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