Diet and Primate Evolution
Variation in the choices of food on a daily, seasonal, and yearly basis is one of the greatest differences between primate species. Primate diets have generally been divided into three main food categories-fruit, leaves and fauna (including insects, spiders, and bird's eggs for the most part). The different diets also are referred to as Frugivores, Folivores, and Insectivores (fruits, leaves and insects respectively). These gross dietary categories are correlated with aspects of primate activity patterns such as home range and group size. There are different problems that have to be overcome in order to obtain a balanced diet on a day-to-day basis. New leaves and mature leaves, for example, may have different nutritional bases or availabilities. Some fruits appear in large clumps while others are spread thinly over a larger area. Aside from diet, primates have tended to either adapt through specialized dentition and digestive systems or rely on a variety of different foods. Those that chose this second route have tended to have larger brain sizes relative to their overall body size. This may be due to the need to know where different types of food can be found at different times throughout th
One such paleontological example focuses on the early horse or equid. Although the majority of primate species tend to emphasize some food items or others, most eat a combination of fruit, leaves, and insects. A tremendous diversity exists within the dietary choices of primates. Interestingly, both Savannah baboons and capuchin monkeys are known for their manual dexterity, efforts in food preparation, and extensive selective searching. Those species, which increase the volume of food, consumed also tended to have larger brains because of a need to remember, not only what, but also where good food sources are and when they are in season. Yet, the colon is actually a derived trait and not an ancestral trait (Milton 1987). Most of this is fruit with high sugar and fiber content, meaning that chimps take in hundreds of grams of fiber per day; contrary to the 10 grams or less the advantage American consumes. Specifically, the microflora in human guts is sensitive to these differences. Together, the fruit and the leaves make for a much balanced diet for the primates. A strong focus on plant foods is characteristic of all primates-- and there is strong consensus that the primates were very strongly herbivorous (Milton 1987, 1993). Factors such as these confirm a dietary change,potentially linked with a novel technology, social innovation such as sharing or development of language skills, or both. The fact that the primates would make an active search from a variety of plants. Most primates species either maximize the efficiency of their digestive track or maximize the quality and the volume of food processed in a day. Information gleaned from research on primates has been linked to such diverse topics as the anatomical proportions of the human digestive tract, to the advent of language and bipedalism. Within these lineages that exploited dense grasses (low nutritive value), an increase in size, similar to modern populations, is evident (Gaulin and Konner 1977).
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