Preview

Australopithecus Research Paper

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
673 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Australopithecus Research Paper
”No, please don’t kill me! Don’t push me off this tree! I’ll do anything!”
“ Mark my words, your body will rot until the day they find you, fellow australopithecus!”
“NOOOO!”
******* 3.2 Million Years Later *******
“Hey, Tom look what I found!”
“What is it Donald?”
And that’s how it all happened. At least that is how I imagined it happening. My theory is that Australopithecine were creatures in the transitional phase from chimpanzee to human but, were in fact more human than like a chimpanzee’s. Australopithecine are more on the human side because they have the ability to walk upright, their pelvic area is like a human’s, and their jaw are more like a human’s jaw.

First off, the ability to be bipedal has always been one of the greatest
…show more content…
Accordingly, the pelvic bone in an Australopithecus is very similar to a modern human's pelvis. The ilium in a human looks like a rough copy of the Australopithecines’ ilium just constricted. Unlike a chimpanzee’s pelvic bone, both the Australopithecus and the human pelvic bone have a rounded end to it. In the figure with the exhibit, the central skeleton, the Australopithecus, has a rounded pelvis that is more wide than it is long. This is also evident in the human skeleton, the one to the right of the one in the …show more content…
Other similarities between chimpanzees and humans include the size of the molars in the back compared with the rest of the teeth and the shape of the jaw. It is quite obvious when looking at a modern human's teeth, that the molars in the back are immense when compared with the front teeth. This same principle applies to the teeth of an Australopithecus. Their teeth are enormous in the back and when you get to the front they are more petite in comparison. Chimpanzee teeth, in the images provided, have the appearance of being approximately the same size all throughout. In addition to all of this it can be observed that the bottom jaw of an Australopithecus is more rounded, unlike the jaws of a chimpanzee, which are pointed. And what type of modern homo has a rounded jaw? Who else but,

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Satisfactory Essays

    Postorbital ring 2. Dental comb 3. Tapetum Lucidum Tarsiers more like monkeys in their genetics Primate Fossil Ancestry: Events Preceding Primates Ca. 500 MYA: first vertebrates in fossil record Ca. 250 MYA: Pangea II forms- nearly all land is one big continent Ca.…

    • 1107 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    The cassowary has course like feathers, with a tall brown helmet like casque on its head and one of its 3 toes has a dagger shaped claw for scratching and fighting.…

    • 647 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    1. Evidence for the rearrangement of crustal plates and continental drift indicates that Australia was once part of an ancient super continent…

    • 2390 Words
    • 11 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    The bonobo is an in interesting species because it shares more than 98 percent of our genetic profile, which makes it very close to a human. It is believed that the human line of ancestry, along with the line of bonobo and chimpanzee, split about eight million years ago (http://songweaver.com). The bonobo is closely related to the chimpanzee but it is considered to be a different species (pygmy chimpanzee). When one looks at a bonobo, they may think that it looks a lot like a chimpanzee; however, if one takes a closer look, they will notice that the bonobo has longer legs, a higher forehead, and a different face shape (Relethford, Pg. 281). When it comes to the way of living, bonobos and chimpanzees differ as well. The bonobos…

    • 569 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    | * A creature belonging to the family Hominidae, which includes human and humanlike species. * Australopithecus genus evolved in eastern Africa…

    • 3704 Words
    • 15 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    1.03 Biology

    • 339 Words
    • 2 Pages

    The next closest to humans and chimps are horses, because on the chart there are 3 differences and the rest are similar…

    • 339 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    * Hominins: Modern humans and all extinct species more closely related to humans than chimps and bonobos…

    • 679 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Bruce Bowers article, “Fossils hint at India’s crucial role in primate evolution” published in September of 2016, gives the theory of how certain bones excavated from a coal mine in India resemble the first primates from as early as 65 million years ago (). This article states how these bones approximately reveal how a common ancestor would look like and act. Researchers believe that since having the qualities of both superfamilies, Adapoidea and Omomyoidea they left behind a large quantity of different skeletal traits. With the idea that the evolution of primates and their relatives occurred on an isolated island of idea then spread, that gives them the time to evolve and have the specific bone structure and abilities that key them into being…

    • 222 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Anatomy: The chimpanzees and humans facial structure are very similar. The internal anatomy is almost the same between chimps and humans. The circulatory, respiratory, and digestive systems are nearly identical.…

    • 652 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Many fossils have been found traits of both humans and apes; also comparisons of modern humans and apes support this theory.…

    • 899 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    wrecked to have an effect on the Great Barrier Reef, however, as larger vessels passing…

    • 529 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Since humans and other primates share a variety of characteristics, other primates provide important observations about early humans. Homologies between hominids and other primates enhance to behavior because the physiological and cognitive formations that manage to control human demeanor are likely related to those of other primates than to members of other taxonomic groups. The reality of this broad collection of homologous traits, the commodity of the average evolutionary history of the primates, means that nonhuman primates give beneficial examples for understanding the evolutionary ancestry of hominid morphology and for resolving the basis of human nature.…

    • 607 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Primate Evolution Essay

    • 557 Words
    • 3 Pages

    A group of scientists lead by Biren Patel have recently found a partial mandible of an ancient primate related to lemurs. Scientists have named the new species Ramadapis sahnii and claim that it existed 11 to 14 million years ago, and is a member of the early primate family Sivaladapidae. Analysis of the jawbone shows that the species consumed leaves and was approximately the same size as a house cat, or to a modern day lemur. This discovery is important to the scientific community as with this discovery more information surrounding the evolutionary history of primates can be gathered and analysed. This new species will also help expand the phylogenetic tree for primates, making it significant to any scientist researching primate evolution.…

    • 557 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Best Essays

    Evolution is ultimately an unpredictable process. Although it can be predicted in the short term through knowledge of natural selection and inheritance, long term evolution is randomly altered by the interaction of highly variable factors. Such factors include the randomness of genetic diversity within a species and the process of natural selection acting upon this. Also significantly altering evolution is the unpredictable movement of tectonic plates which often leads to the isolation of large areas of land, such as Australia. Stemming from this arises various other substantial factors such as a lack of competition and predation and considerable changes in climate and ecosystems. The interaction of these forces (the unpredictable changes) is exactly what happened to Australia and as a consequence, drove the native Australian animals onto a very unique evolutionary path different from any other area land- no matter how similar their environments.…

    • 2150 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Best Essays
  • Good Essays

    Primate Observation Essay

    • 859 Words
    • 4 Pages

    They can reach up to 3 to 4 ½ feet in height and they weigh between 100 and 150 pounds. As I observed the chimpanzees’ behavior I noticed that they stay in one area, the groups have more male than female. The male and female chimpanzee look very similar; however, they are sexually dimorphic. The male chimpanzee looked just slightly bigger than the female. Their bodies are thickset with long arms and short legs with no tail. The long arms grip firmly the trees when they are swinging. Their bodies are covered with long black hair except for the ears, face, fingers and toes. Some have whiskers on their chin. They also have flat face, small nose and forward facing eyes. Chimpanzees are quadruped, they move on all fours. When walking, I can see they use their knuckles for support due to the fact they have shorter legs and longer arms. They also have opposable toes with good strength of griping. Chimps are capable of bipedal locomotion. They spend same time in the ground compared to the time they spend in the trees. From observing the chimpanzee for just about 20 minutes I learned so much about them. They are very similar to humans in the ways they…

    • 859 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays