Your Essential Assignments. 1. Primates evolved as a group adapted to an arboreal mode of life

I. Quick check:

1. Primates evolved as a group adapted to an arboreal mode of life. Briefly explain the importance of the following adaptions:

a. reduced sense of smell

b. opposable thumb

c. small, single uterus

d. flexible pectoral girdle.

II. Fill in the missing words:

Term (verb)	Noun	Adjective
reflect	.......	.......
adapt	.......	.......
grasp	.......	.......
depend	.......	.......
support	.......	.......
extinguish	.......	.......
separate	…….	……

III. Use monolingual English dictionary and write down what could the words given below mean:

vision, limb, adaptation, modern, independence.

IV. Match these words with their definitions:

	primate	A.	an animal that eats both meat plants
	modern	B.	the smell of a particular animal or person that some other animals, for example dogs, can follow
	insectivore	C.	able to move easily
	mammal	D.	an animal is very like a human
	omnivore	E.	the bones of person’s or animal’s head
	brain	F.	a creature that eats insects for food
7.	scent	G.	connected with trees or living in trees
8.	mode	H.	time belonging to the present time
9.	ape	I.	the organ inside your head that controls how you think, feel and move
	mobile	J.	one of the class of animals that drinks milk from its mother’s body when it is young
	digestion	K.	a member of the group of mammals that includes humans and monkeys
12.	arboreal	L.	a large monkey without a tail, or with a very short tail
13.	skull	M.	concerning human society and its organization, or the quality of people’s lives
14.	social	N.	a particular way or style of behaving, living or doing something
15.	anthropoid	O.	the process of digesting food

V. Find English equivalents to the following word combinations:

№	Russian term	English equivalent
1.	в некоторой степени
2.	физические и поведенческие характеристики
3.	хватать ветки деревьев
4.	нежная кожа на пальцах руки или ноги
5.	подвижное предплечье
6.	подносить предмет к глазам для внимательного изучения
7.	хорошо развитое зрение
8.	пищеварительная система
9.	смешанная диета
10.	большой и высоко развитый мозг
11.	передние и задние конечности
12.	несколько различий
13.	хватательный хвост

VI. Give Russian equivalents to the following English terms:

№	English term	Russian equivalent
	descended with modifications from a common ancestor
	arboreal mode of life
	ancestral primates
	well adapted for eating insects
	a prehensile limb
	to allow a wide range of movements
	to transfer food to the mouth
	to locate scents
	upright posture
	spinal cord
	a prolonged period of dependency after birth
	precise movements
	social grouping
	complex social behaviour

VII. Find synonyms among the pool of words:

Pool of words	Synonyms
1)1.descend /2.grip /3.grasp /4.originate
2)1.digit/2.bond/3.scent/4.finger/5.link/6.smell /7.toe
3)1.feature /2. limb /3.characteristic /4. arm /5. leg
4)1.primitive /2.independence /3. freedom /4. ancient

VIII. Answer the following questions. Use all information given before:

1. What has freed us from many of the effects of natural selection?

2. What does “arboreal mode of life” mean?

3. What features did ancestral primates have?

4. What features have been retained by modern primates?

5. What are the two main groups of modern primates?

6. How are monkeys distinguished from apes?

IX. Match the sentence halves. Make complete sentences:

1.	Although our social and technological developments have freed us from many of the effects of natural selection,	A.	can be protected until they are old enough to fend for themselves.
2.	About 75 million years ago some of these insectivores adopted an arboreal	B.	and for manipulating objects in the hand.
3.	Primates have flattened nails that support pads	C.	(tree-dwelling) mode of life and evolved into lemur-like primates.
4.	Mobile forearms are essential for moving from tree to tree,	D.	and they can exploit a wide range of food sources.
5.	The development of stereoscopic vision has been associated	E.	our present-day physical and behavioural characteristics are rooted in the adaptations of our ancestors.
6.	Primates have relatively unspecialized teeth and guts	F.	of sensitive skin on the fingers or toes.
7.	Some arboreal animals, such as birds and squirrels, build nests in which the young	G.	the prosimians(meaning “before apes”) and anthropoids(meaning “ape fom”).
8.	The primitive primates diverged quickly to give rise to two main suborders;	H.	with a flattening of the face.

X. Read and translate the short text without any dictionary:

Fact of life:

Lemurs are cat-like primates that live exclusively in the tropical rainforests of Madagascar. It is thought that ancestral lemurs became isolated on the island about 50 million years ago and gradually diversified into 40 species. Lemurs have retained numerous primitive characteristics while at the same time developing many features in parallel with monkeys and apes that evolved on the mainland. During this evolution, body mass gradually increased (the ancestral species was very small) which corresponds with a shift away from mainly nocturnal (night-time) activity to diurnal (day-time) activity. This evolutionary trend is also seen among the monkeys and apes. Primitive lemur species are small nocturnal animals that spend nearly all their time climbing and leaping in trees, living mainly on insects. Several other species of lemur (including Lemur catta) live on the ground. These more advanced lemurs evolved to live in social groups, associated with their becoming diurnal.The young grow up within a troop and much time is spent learning the skills of life, individuals cooperate within the group to gather (fruit and leaves as well as insects) and avoid predators. However, none of the lemurs have the manual dexterity or intelligence of apes and monkeys.

XI. Food for thought:

Suggest how stereoscopic vision evolved by natural selection in arboreal primates.

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