ABSTRACT
This chapter introduces the science of primatology, the diversity of primates, and their conservation status. The seven major taxonomic groups of primates are geographically distributed in four regions of the world where tropical and subtropical rainforests occur: Madagascar, the neotropics (South America, Central America, and southern Mexico), mainland Africa, and Asia. In each region, different primate species live together as communities. Each species occupies its own ecological niche based on a range of distinctive adaptive differences in size, diet, locomotion, social behavior, and other factors. This enables them to coexist without direct competition for the same resources. The same pattern of ecological niche differentiation occurs in all four major regions, even though there are habitat differences and the communities are made up of different taxonomic groups.
