Astounding Facts About Primates that Never Cease to Amaze
19. The meaning of the word “primate” may or may not surprise you.
The ego of the human race has no bounds. It probably will not shock you that the word “primate” is Latin for “first rank,” a not-so-subtle reminder that humans consider themselves the height of evolution. That is, scientifically speaking. However, there is no reason to think that primates are more evolved than other animals like birds or reptiles. They just ended up in a different evolutionary cycle and produced us. If we had evolved from fish and ended up with scales for skin, would we still think so highly of ourselves? What’s to say sharks don’t think they are at the top of the evolutionary pyramid (as they rightly should)? Sharks are terrifying, and we should humbly bow down to their power and scary teeth.
Still, there are some pretty incredible features of primates, and the fact is that we did not evolve from sharks or snakes. What about primates? They have large brains and dexterous hands, enabling them to use simple hand tools to get a job done. The social groups that they form indicate a level of culture found among some other kinds of animals but not all. Furthermore, in movies like Jaws, the fearsome beasts are made to be like monsters that terrify humans if you think about Hollywood. However, in King Kong, the “monster” has human-like feelings and even falls in love with someone.
The ego of the human race has no bounds. It probably will not shock you that the word “primate” is Latin for “first rank,” a not-so-subtle reminder that humans consider themselves the height of evolution. That is, scientifically speaking. However, there is no reason to think that primates are more evolved than other animals like birds or reptiles. They just ended up in a different evolutionary cycle and produced us. If we had evolved from fish and ended up with scales for skin, would we still think so highly of ourselves? What’s to say sharks don’t think they are at the top of the evolutionary pyramid (as they rightly should)? Sharks are terrifying, and we should humbly bow down to their power and scary teeth.
Still, there are some pretty incredible features of primates, and the fact is that we did not evolve from sharks or snakes. What about primates? They have large brains and dexterous hands, enabling them to use simple hand tools to get a job done. The social groups that they form indicate a level of culture found among some other kinds of animals but not all. Furthermore, in movies like Jaws, the fearsome beasts are made to be like monsters that terrify humans if you think about Hollywood. However, in King Kong, the “monster” has human-like feelings and even falls in love with someone.
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13 September 2022
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