anthropology assignment

Part I: Primate Adaptations
1.
a) The primates have develop their sense of touch. They developed fingernails on their fingers and toes instead of claws.

b) They developed this trait to have better manipulation while holding and gripping things, like trees and branches. They can also feel better with the tip of their fingers. This trait helped them in survival. It led to better mouvements in trees, as well as holding food and their babies.

c) As for long-term adaptive advantages, the sense of touch will eventually lead to the increase of a larger brain and its complexity. With their new trait, they can feel the texture of the food. Their brain can process if their food too hard or too soft. Later on, the sense of touch will help them in using and making tools. With tools, they have a higher chance of survival while fighting the other animals.

2.
The great African apes lived in groups and foraged together. Their group life would eventually have a short-term adaptations which is their survival and reproduction is easier to do. As for its long-term adaptive advantages, it develops their communications skills that results in learning, ergo the development of the brain.

These chimpanzees and bonobos also bond with their children. The children would stay in the mother’s group for the rest of their lives. The bond shared with mother and child will last forever. Since the females and their offsprings are the center of their social life, this results in the increase of the survival of the young apes. Also, the males would pay attention to the little ones and they may share with the females the parental responsibilities. As for the long-term adaption, the younger apes would learn from the adults by watching them.
Part II: The Evolution of Humankind
3.
a) The ape that lived 3,5 millions years ago belonged to the genus, Australopithecus and the species, afarensis.

b) They lived in trees and near rivers to drink in the morning. Their territory is 10 square miles with rivers and mountains. There are fields near the apes’ territories that doesn’t have any fruits or food available. They lived in East and South Africa.

c) The adaptive trait that made this ape special is their ability to stand and walk upright with their two feet, instead of walking or crawling on four feet.

d) They gain the ability to walk upright because the world change 8 millions years ago. Before, the world was covered by forests, therefore the apes would only climb in trees. The ocean floor was expending. Parts of the Earth’s crust, India, is moving towards Asia and it created the Himalaya. This mountain chain causes the weather to change and prompted many storms, the monsoons. Eventually these storm will make Africa dry. The trees in Africa will decrease and the less competitive apes will have to spend more time on the ground. By walking on two feet, these apes can stand taller and see further. They can also hold their babies or food since their hands were free from crawling on four feet. Also, walking upright will limit them from the exposure of heat radiating from the ground. The long-term adaptation of walking with two feet will eventually lead the development of manipulative hands to be larger.
4.
a)
i. Two millions years ago, the ape that is the most probable ancestor of the modern human is the Homo habilis.

ii. They lived in the savannah of Africa. They live in grasslands, with overgrown reeds. Since they lived in environment with low resources for food, they would have to rely on their wit.

iii. Their scavenging inquisitive lifestyle has made them inventive. They were able to make stone tools. Therefore, they can live off different varieties of food. By eating meat, its protein can enable them to become smarter and work together as a group. They would eat bone marrow with the advantages of the stone tools, which led to reduction in dentition and later on, bigger brain. Since they can live in different environment and they adapt well, they are our most probable ancestor.

b)
i. The other specie of ape that lived 2 millions years ago is the Australopithecus Boisei.

ii. They have a specialization adaptation in big teeth and strong jaws. They eat in a grinding way. They have no gap between their canines and their premolars on the lower jaw.They can eat whatever is around them, which is tall grass. They have a strong stomach with a good digestion. They can digest hard vegetation.

iii. This specie will have a successful lifestyle, only if it stays the same. They survived because they lived in the same environment for decades. However, the Boisei was an evolutionary dead end because as we know, the world will eventually change and they can only survive if nothing changes.
5.
a) The ape that lived a million year ago was the Homo ergaster.

b) They lived in Africa, where the weather was very hot, 30 degrees in the shade. First, they followed the river Nil, then into the Middle East. They went as far as Asia. They went so far, that anthropologist gave them a different name, Homo erectus.

c) Their new adaptive traits is the development of sweat glands and a bigger, long nose that will lead to a bigger brain. There was also the use of fire, the form of clothing and hunting.

i. The development of sweat glands will give them the ability to make sounds instead of breathing with short, quick breaths. They lost most of the hair and they developed a new adaptation of sweating. This prevents them to overheat. With this ability to make sounds, they can communicate with the others within the group. Thus making their chance of survival higher. The use of fire delays the time they spent together. They socialize at night and increase communication skills, later on this develops their abstract thinking and their increase brain size. The form of clothing (fur) implies of they hunted, implying they had meat supply, which increases in cooperation and communication within the group. 6.
a) They live in caves in the North at the time of the Ice age. The ice is covered from Scandinavia to Spain. The temperature can go as low as -30 degrees.

b) They were shorter and bulkier to hold in the fat and keep them warm. Their nose were bigger to cool themselves, otherwise, their sweat will eventually freeze.

7.
a) They are slimmer and taller than the Neanderthals, to cope with the heat. Their skin is darker to keep them safe from the sun. Since they live in the heat and they have lesser food, they are faced with extinction and natural selection is occurred. The one who benefits the most are those who is stronger and smarter. The weaker ones will die and the stronger will live on and pass their genes to their offspring. They plan ahead for their survival and the imagination can help them preserve and find food.

b) The ostrich egg is evidence of this trait. The humidity caged by the egg can hold water and it’s put into the ground. It is retrieve later when the Homo sapiens sapiens needs it. These anatomically modern human plan ahead.