word | primate |
---|---|
definition | Any member of the group of animals that includes human beings, apes, and monkeys. |
eg_sentence | Dr. Leakey sent three young women to work with individual primates: Jane Goodall with the chimpanzees, Dian Fossey with the gorillas, and Birute Galdakis with the orangutans. |
explanation | It was the great biologist Carolus Linnaeus who gave the primates their name, to indicate that animals of this order were the most advanced of all. Linnaeus listed human beings with the apes a hundred years before Charles Darwin would publish his famous work on evolution. When people told him that our close relationship to the apes and monkeys was impossible because it disagreed with the Bible, he responded that, from the biological evidence, he simply couldn't come to a different conclusion. Among the mammals, the primates are distinguished by their large brains, weak sense of smell, lack of claws, long pregnancies, and long childhoods, among other things. Along with the apes and monkey, the Primate order includes such interesting animals as the lemurs, tarsiers, galagos, and lorises. |
IPA | ˈpraɪˌmeɪt |
Tags: mwvb::unit:3, mwvb::unit:3:word, mwvb::word, mwvb::word-cloze, mwvb::word-reverse, obsidian_to_anki
Learn with these flashcards. Click next, previous, or up to navigate to more flashcards for this subject.
Next card: Primordial formed created developed existing beginning astronomers universe
Previous card: Primer small book teaching children read introductory subject
Up to card list: Merriam-Webster Vocabulary Builder LITE (English)