Paleontology and Human Evolution Review Sheet

Adaptations of primates

-Binocular vision: each eye sees a slightly different view of the same scene and the brain merges the two views in perceiving the distance to objects -Opposable thumbs: can move freely (touches each of the 4 fingers) -Grasping hands: independently moving fingers

What was happening environmentally in Africa around the time bipedalism started to develop?

-Environment shifted from dense forests to large patches of savannah -caused hominids to carry large amounts of food -an upright stance would be needed

What does it mean to be a primate?

-Mammals with forward facing eyes and very flexible legs, arms, and fingers -Large brain in relation to body size

Difference between "Out of Africa" and the "Multiregional" theory

-Out of Africa: modern humans evolved from a local population in Africa and migrated and replaced other human populations around the world -Multiregional: human populations slowly evolved in modern humans

Four groups of primates

-Prosimian: smallest in size, arms are shorter than legs, most are nocturnal, snout (lemur) -New World monkeys: medium, arms are equal/shorter than legs, daytime, prehensile tail (spider monkey) -Old world monkeys: visible tails, lack snout (baboon) -Apes: largest, arms longer than legs, daytime, no tails, lack of hair on face (gorillas, chimpanzees)

Two subgroups of all primates

-Prosimians: lower intelligence, have whiskers (resemble lower level animals) ex. lemurs -Anthropoids: "higher primates", flat faces, complex brains, larger

What does it mean to be bipedal and why is it important?

-Walking upright on two feet -it allows us to reach higher and have more balance

Difference between humans and other primates

-complex brain -amount of hair -written language

Some possible reasons that may have caused large brains to evolve?

-use of 2 free limbs -constant climate change (had to be able to adapt quickly as species -change in diet (more calories and nutrients are consumed, the more the brain can grow)

When did homo sapiens first appear in the geologic timeline?

100,000-200,000 years ago

Differences between genus Australopithecus and genus homo?

Australopithecus: -ape-like -smaller brain -earlier Homo: -recent -large brain -bipedal

Why are ancient hominid fossils only found in Africa while more recent found in Asia and Europe?

Being bipedal allowed them to travel long distances

What is a hominid and how are they different from other primates?

Bipedal primate including humans and their closest ancestors and relatives

Where and when did the earliest hominids evolve?

Eastern Africa, 2 million years ago

What other hominid coexisted with modern humans?

Neanderthals