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A primate is any member of the biological order Primates (Latin "prime, first rank"^[2]), the group that contains all the species commonly related to the lemurs, monkeys, and apes, with the last category including humans.^[3] With the exception of humans, which now inhabit every continent on Earth, most primates live in tropical or subtropical regions of the Americas, Africa and Asia. A few species exist as far north in the Americas as southern Mexico, and as far north in Asia as northern Japan.

The Primates order is divided informally into three main groupings prosimians, monkeys of the New World, and monkeys and apes of the Old World. The prosimians are species whose bodies most closely resemble that of the early proto-primates. The most well known of the prosimians, the lemurs, are located on the island of Madagascar and to a lesser extent on the Comoros Islands, isolated from the rest of the world. The New World monkeys, which include the familiar capuchin, howler, and squirrel monkeys, live exclusively in the Americas. With the exception of humans, the rest of the Old World monkeys and the apes inhabit Africa and southern and central Asia, although fossil evidence shows many species existed in Europe as well.

Primates are adapted for a tree-dwelling lifestyle. Anatomical adaptations support their reliance on vision, their dominant sensory system, rather than smell, which is the dominant sensory system in most mammals. In some primates, three color vision has developed. Most primates also have opposable thumbs and some have prehensile tails. Many species are sexually dimorphic, in that males and females have different physical traits, including body mass, canine tooth size, and coloration.

Primates use a variety of locomotion techniques. These include leaping from tree to tree, walking on two or four limbs, knuckle-walking and swinging between branches of trees (known as brachiation). Similarly, primates use a variety of social systems. Some species are solitary, others are monogamous, while others live in groups that can include up to hundreds of members. Among group living primates, in some species members of one gender typically remain with their natal group for their entire lives while members of the other transfer to a new group upon reaching sexual maturity. In other species both sexes leave their natal group to form or find new groups upon reaching sexual maturity.

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