Human Evolution
List the criteria the authors of the Chimpanzee Culture article used to determine if an observed chimpanzee behaviour was a cultural behavior. Remember the authors are using compiled lists of behaviors from six populations of chimpanzees.
A cultural behaviour is one that is transmitted repeatedly through social or observational learning to become a population-level characteristic
State which came first, a modern brian or a modern body shape.
A modern body shape
Describe fossil and archeological evidence that supports one component of the diet of the Homo erectus.
Cut marks on animal fossils (meats) which supports them having intermediate molars between Australopithecus and H. Sapiens showing that they still ate some fallback foods and USOs.
Describe one piece of non-hominin animal evidence.
Early zebra species went extinct because they were grass eaters and were only adapted to one climate so they have to transition to become omnivores.
The correct term for humans, and the extinct species that are more closely related to humans than chimpanzees, is: _________________.
Hominins
Explain how changes to human growth pattern successfully combine an increased ape strategy and a mouse strategy.
Human growth patterns have combined the ape and mouse strategy because the ape strategy is to only have one baby at a time and to care and put all energy to that one baby to make sure it survives and the mouse strategy is to have as many babies as possible and not care for them and whoever lives, lives. We have combined these because we can have multiple babies and care for them and they survive and thrive. For example, a mother can have an infant as well as a newborn baby and take care for both of them and put energy into growing all of their brains.
We are the only mammal that can ____________ distances at ______________ speeds in ______________ climates.
Long distances, moderate speeds, hot climate
List and describe the function of THREE H. erectus adaptations for endurance running (derived characteristics that ONLY could have evolved for endurance running -- not just walking).
More sweat glands: more cooling (less exhaustion) Long lean bodies: less surface area from the sun (cooler) Long achilles: stores and releases energy Big butt: stabilizes body/ center of gravity Semicircular ear canal: stabilizes the head and neck so it doesn't wobble around while running
Describe "persistence hunting," making sure you include the words trot, gallop and panting in your explanation.
Persistence hunting was a type of hunting used by Homo species which involved a Homo species to run long distances in high heat chasing an animal. When animals trot they can pant which is there way of cooling down but when they begin to gallop which is faster than a trot, they can not pant, therefore have no way to cool down other than lying down in the shade to pant and rest. These Homo species would chase down animals until they dropped due to exhaustion and overheating and then they would spear them to kill them. Homo species don't have the same problem because we cool through sweating.
Public acceptance of evolution in the United States is strikingly low, compared with other countries in Europe (and Japan). State two complete explanations for our low acceptance of evolution.
Political parties used anti-evolution theories to campaign Genetic literacy was low in the US Interpretations of genesis
Lieberman supports two hypotheses for the evolution of bipedalism. State these two hypotheses and support one with experimental evidence.
Regularly standing and walking upright was initially selected to help the first hominins forage and obtain food more effectively in the face of major climate change that was occurring when the human and chimpanzee lineages diverged. As the forest around you shrinks and becomes woodland, the ripe fruits you hunger after become less abundant, more dispersed, and more seasonal. These changes would sometimes require you to travel farther to get the same amount of food, and you'd resort more frequently to eating fallback foods, which are more abundant but lower in quality than preferred foods such as ripe fruit.
Describe the shared derived characteristics of apes.
Relatively large brains, no tail and suspensory adaptations (long arms, funnel shaped rib cage, more erect posture than monkeys)
State the "expensive tissue hypothesis."
The expensive tissue hypothesis proves that Homo species gradually evolved bigger brains and smaller guts because the species were learning how to hunt-gather and eating a higher quality diet therefore didn't need to spend as much energy in digesting and churning food so because both the brain and gut use a lot of energy, when our guts shrank, our brains could use more energy to grow and maintain.
Define the "mismatch hypothesis" and describe one example.
The mismatch hypothesis says that the reason why more people are affected by disease is because we adapt to an environment and then when the environment changes there are different selective pressure that prove us to be unfit and it takes a while to adapt to it. Ex. many early humans wanted to eat lots of sugars for caloric intake when food was scarce but then caused us to get Type 2 diabetes from too much sugar for the pancreas to handle.
In the reading, Climate Effects on Human Evolution, a new hypothesis is presented. Describe the new hypothesis
The new hypothesis says that human evolution and adaptations are shaped by environmental variability/ instability. This means that our adaptations aren't just formed through one type of environment but multiple environments or climates.
Explain why modern non-human apes can be used to develop a picture of the LCA population of chimpanzees and humans.
Unless the many similarities between the various species of African great apes evolved independently, which is highly improbable, the LCA of chimps and gorillas must have been somewhat chimplike or gorillalike in terms of anatomy. By the same logic, the LCA of chimps and humans was also probably anatomically like a chimp or gorilla in many ways.
Your friend asks "if humans evolved from chimpanzees, why are there chimpanzees around today?" How do you respond?
We did not evolve from chimpanzees, we share a common ancestor which means that we have some shared derived characteristics.
chimps: molar structure, diet function, epoch
flat cheek teeth with thin enamel, ate a lot of fruit but it was also very fibrous, holocene
Describe two pieces of hominin evidence.
fossils are found in places other than Africa we were generalist: terrestrial and arborial
Why are other animals racists, bigots, and xenophobes?
it is inflexibly hard-wired into them, their behaviour is based on common genetic ancestry
lucy: molar structure, diet function, epoch
large molars and thick enamel, to eat tough fallback foods and USOs, pliocene
Why are we not destined to be racists, bigots, and xenophobes?
living in big groups requires our ability to cooperate with others, we will get along with anyone who cooperates with us
human skin color
skin color evolved because early humans living in Africa, close to the equator, evolved a pigmentation called melanin which absorbed some of the UVB rays which are really strong at the equator to prevent folate deficiency. when humans spread further from the equator, they didn't need the melanin so they got lighter skin but they were no longer protected from the UVB rays that are less strong but still exist at high latitudes. a folate deficiency can cause birth defects, limit new cell growth, smaller sperm count
human skin color
skin color evolved because early humans living in Africa, close to the equator, evolved a pigmentation called melanin which absorbed some of the UVB rays which are really strong at the equator to prevent folate deficiency. when humans spread further from the equator, they didn't need the melanin so they got lighter skin but they were no longer protected from the UVB rays that are less strong but still exist at high latitudes. a folate deficiency can cause birth defects, limit new cell growth, smaller sperm count. skin synthesizes UVB to vitamin D.
humans: molar structure, diet function, epoch
smaller molars and thick enamel, hunter gatherers ate meat and fruit, pleistocene
what is the harm if a dark skin child was in a high latitude
they would have melanin so could not absorb any of the UVB to transform into Vitamin D which is essential in bone growth especially in children so they don't develop rickets