Analyzing the Fossil Record
Various factors make finding and analyzing early primate fossils difficult. One problem is their tiny size. For example, some early primate teeth are only a few millimeters in length and width. Another difficulty is that relatively few primate remains have survived to the present day. That may be because many areas where the early primates lived, such as the tropical forests of Southeast Asia, are still covered with dense vegetation, making excavation difficult. Most fossil finds today are on the sites of ancient forests that are now dry desert areas in places such as Wyoming, eastern Asia, and northern Africa.
Even though the fossil record of early primates is sketchy, paleontologists have been able to slowly piece together a picture of what many of these animals looked like, how big they were, what they ate, and where and how they lived. They have also gathered clues about how early primates probably interacted with other animals, what animals they were descended from, and what new species evolved from them. Much of this knowledge has been inferred from fossilized teeth.
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