The history of primate evolution is filled with the evolution of new species but also countless extinctions. While factors in ea
ch case are different, certain main factors continuously contributed to the extinction of various primates. Identify the main factors that may have led to the extinction of primates at various points in time.
Mass extinctions have occurred throughout the planet's history and in many of them primate species also have been extinct. Climate change was the cause of some of these extinctions. For instance, between the end of the Eocene and the beginning of the Oligocene global climate became drastically colder and drier, resulting in a decrease in the food supply and in the consequent extinction of several species of adapid and omohyoid primates from America, South Europe and Asia. Extinctions due to climate change can be triggered by both catastrophic global events and the planet's natural climate dynamics.
Non-climate related environmental events also occurred throughout the evolutionary process, affecting primate populations and species and eventually causing their extinction. Changes in geographic space can lead to interaction between different species and populations and consequently competition for resources, excessive predation or pathogen transmission (a phenomenon called “Background extinction”), and all these factors also contributed to the disappearance of some primate species. This type of extinction includes those most recently caused by human action.
