Anatomically Correct Vanara
Apart of the Anatomically Correct Series
Vanara
The Vanara is a group of people who lives in the forest in the Hindu epic "Ramayana." In there, it describes them as human-like, with reference to their speech, clothing, habitations, funerals, consecrations, and abilities to form armies. It also describes their monkey-like characteristics such as their leaping, hair, fur and a tail.
From the description, to me it sounds like they're monkeys who gained sapience instead of the great apes. What kind of evolutionary pressure would allow those kinds of events to happen? What would be the physical changes they'd need to have as well?
This post was sourced from https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/q/170141. It is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
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Reduced Jaw Muscle
The brain of primates is slightly smaller than the brain of a human, which is thought to be the main reason for the intelligence gap between the species. The reasons why a monkey's brain is smaller is simple - the cranium is smaller, because the jaw muscles are bigger. Monkeys like eating things like nuts, and they need powerful jaws to crunch those things. But, a mutation weakening the jaw muscle is believe to be the primary cause of intelligence in humans.
And that's pretty much it if you want a sapient monkey. That's the sole mutation you'd need. So you'd need a viable source of food that doesn't require powerful jaws, and you'd be set. Do note that they would still be monkeys, and thus do not possess the full anatomy of humans (such as the ability to throw things accurately over great distances), but that's the anatomy you want to adjust.
This post was sourced from https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/a/170164. It is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
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