Primates vs Humans
Humans are primates, but they are the most developed and evolved species among all. The most dominant species of the present-day Earth is the human, and they differ substantially from other animals including the evolutionarily much related primates. The intelligence is amongst highly noticeable differences of humans from primates, but this article discusses the other important distinctions, as well.
Primates
Primates are members of the Order: Primates, which includes chimps, gorillas, orang-utans, humans, and many other highly evolved and intelligent animals. Intelligence is the stand out feature of the primates, but other features such as prehensile thumb and three-colour vision are important to notice about primates. Primates are a highly diversified group with more than 420 species classified under 16 families. The variation in body size is immense among them, as the smallest species weighs only 30 grams (Madame Berthe’s mouse lemur) while the most robust species weighs more than 200 kilograms (Mountain gorilla). These highly diversified animals have been able to sustain in tropical parts of the world but barely in North America and never in Australia and Antarctica. Most of the primates have highly expressive faces, in which the protruded nature is pronounced except in humans. Additionally, the face of primates is more flattened than elongated. All types of teeth are present, and the canines are large in most of the species, as they are omnivores. The aggression is prominent among the individuals, especially among males, of the same species. Since their origin according to the oldest known specimen of Plasiadapis of the Paleocene epoch, primates have been able to adapt to the environmental demands with great adaptations and well developed brains.
Humans
Humans, Homo sapiens, are considered as the most evolved among all animal species. Humans’ are quite different from other animals in many ways. Despite their uniqueness among all the animals, humans are different among themselves with regard to the desires, habits, ideas, skills…etc. The humans are remarkable in their abilities to understand, explain, and utilize the environment with respect to science, philosophy, and religion. The humans are social animals with strong relationships among them. Humans are mainly of three types known as Caucasoid, Negroid, and Mongoloid. Usually an average healthy adult human weighs about 50 to 80 kilograms while the height could vary within 1.5 and 1.8 metres. An unhealthy or an unusual man would break those limits. The life expectancy at birth for humans at birth averages around 67 years. Although, humans were the last to evolve, according to many scientists, and have not faced any of the major climatic or geographical changes those took place on Earth. Therefore, it would be a little too soon to believe that humans could survive any of the mass extinctions, which are due in the future.
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What is the difference between Primates and Humans? • Human is the most evolved species among all the primates. • Humans have a longer lifespan than most of the primates. • The social relationships are more complex among humans than in other primates. • Body size is considerably large, especially the height, compared with many primates except orang-utan and gorilla. • The brain capacity of humans is substantially greater than in any other primate. • The body of humans is not robustly covered with hairs as in most of other primates. • The protruded nature of the face could be observed in most of the primates, but the human face is mostly flat. • Respect to cultural, religious, and philosophical beliefs is prominent among humans than in any other primate.
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