The sciencemag.com article “Anti-Alzheimer’s Gene may have Led to the Rise of Grandparents” by Kelli Whitlock Burton talks about the how the protective variant of the CD33 gene may explain why humans have grandmothers that help with child rearing. The article explains the “grandmother hypothesis” that says humans live such long and healthy lives even after they are no longer able to reproduce because they help with child rearing. The CD33 gene plays a big role in Alzheimer’s disease and scientists Ajit Varki and Pascal Gagneux discovered that there are two variants of it: a protective allele and a damaging one.…
Robin Dunbar (2003), the founded of the Social Brain Hypothesis theory, argues that primate, and indeed human, intelligence primarily evolved as means of reproducing and surviving in large and complex social groups, rather than as a means to solve ecological challenges. This is tightly associated with the Theory of Mind, or the ability to understand the emotions and thoughts of the other individuals. The Social Brain Hypothesis (SBH) is, however, not denying that the basic…
Communication with non-human primates and humans are similar to our culture in some aspects, but there also very different areas that aren’t similar to our culture. An example of this would be that chimpanzees, bonobos, and apes use scent to communicate…
People believe that we are at the top of all animals and we are, for now, but other primates are not so far behind. Jane Goodall has witnessed chimpanzees making and using tools, hunting, planning and intelligence, spontaneous dance-like display,…
The movie summary I am going to talk about is the Survey of Primates film we watched in class. The film describes the basic characteristics of primates, illustrates the geographic locations and regions of their various primate forms. The movie also describes the various adaptations in which primates had evolved from in based on their location in the world, and also briefly describes types of behavioral and the social adaptions on primates' relation towards humans. The film starts off by stating that the subspecies of primates are apes, monkeys, and prosimians and are all closely related to humans. Primates usually are located in the tropics and semi-tropics of the world.…
In Ed Yong’s, article, “Of Primates and Personhood: Will According Rights and “Dignity” to Nonhuman Organisms Halt Research”, argues apes should be respected more by humans. He supports his claim by comparing apes to humans, then mentions ape testing then states how other countries are giving apes more rights, and finally mentions an ancestral connection between apes and humans. Yong’s purpose is to persuade people to respect apes more in order to end cruelty against apes and other animals. He adopts a serious and informative tone to grab people’s attention.…
Do non-human primates have culture? Let’s first start off by asking ourselves; what distinguishes us from other primates? It used to be said that what distinguished us from other anthropoids was our use of tools. With new discoveries in the world of anthropology, we found that other apes such as chimpanzees use tools effectively in order to sustain their everyday life. This definition then became nullified, and a search for a new distinguishing feature became necessary. To most the answer was clear; humans have culture. But as we progress in the world of science and technology, new evidence has become more and more prominent that maybe this has been disproven once again, and maybe we aren’t the only ones in the animal kingdom with culture after all.…
During the study chimpanzees and human children “respond in a similar manner when tested with different sounds and “lexigrams” (Koren). Consequently, the divergence occurred when children began to communicate through speech and researches belief this behavior in the article written by Dixon, Apes Cuddle Each Other like Humans, apes are reported to share concern with each other just like humans. Primates “kiss, hug and embrace each” other showing that monkeys are self aware and share the need for interaction very much like humans (Dixon). Younger primates chase and play with each other each other like human children do. In Dixon’s article, Monkeys who scream frequently and are not quieted by these emotional exchanges show less compassion for others. For these traits to be shared amongst primates through a common…
Many fossils have been found traits of both humans and apes; also comparisons of modern humans and apes support this theory.…
Primates are one of the most interesting mammals on earth, not only because of their complex social structures, but because they hold so many similar characteristics to humans. Primates are often cited as our closest living relatives and on two separate occasions I observed four separate species of primates at the San Diego Zoo that can justify their use of their physical characteristics and behaviors that may be similar as well as different to the other primates and ours.…
Baboons and chimpanzees, who are famous for being closely related to humans, embody the symptoms of kindness among their peers. Within "The Selfless Gene", written by Olivia Judson involves the discussion and break down of the relationship between kindness and survival, as seen in humanly related species. The author states, “At the least, the evolution of social living requires limiting aggression so that neighbours can tolerate one another. And often, the evolution of larger social groupings is accompanied by an increase in these subtly and complexity of the ways animals get along together.”…”Consider baboons…baboons have evolved complex social lives.” (287) Judson goes into depth, explaining the many social skills that baboons are equipped with. One of these qualities is a pack mentality, which allows animals, such as the baboon, to perform best in designated groups for better chances of survival. Kindness is a byproduct of this sectional living. This behaviour can be compared to human activity in means of stating in a certain group or "herd". Judson discusses the importance of helping one another by stating later on in her passage, “Bowles shows that groups of supercooperative, altruistic humans could indeed have wiped out groups of less-united folk.” (289) Living in these groups can help lead others become kinder to one another, since they are with familiar people, in familiar…
The impact of the environment condition of primate population has been well documented. Replacement of forest area by crops and soaring urbanization are often described as significant drivers to survival of wildlife populations, including non-human primates (Laurance et al. 2002). Given the rapidly of forest replacement, at present many primate species face the dramatic disturbance and fragmentation of their natural habitats (Cowlishaw and Dunbar 2000). At the same times, human activities in the forest have also damaged to an increased the probability of primate to share habitat with humans who interact and compete for space and resources (Isabirye‐Basuta and Lwanga 2008). Most primate species are threatened and avoiding live with human, while…
Dawkins explain to the minister that the bones going to be displayed weren’t like humans. The skulls were smaller and they were smaller in size as well. For example, Dawkins mention that the brain of the 3 million old has the same size of a chimpanzee brain. They were like chimpanzee walking on their hind legs and this was the first step to becoming humans. The next step was to have a bigger brain and the final step was to have a much bigger brain like us humans. Humans are not descendent for chimpanzee humans are cousin to chimpanzees and that means that chimpanzees and humans we go back to having a comment ancestor and our comment ancestor wasn’t a chimpanzee or a human it was something else and it evolved to being a chimpanzee and in a different…
While an argument could be made for both sides in the "how similar are we to chimps" debate, I support Jane Goodalls assertion that humans are more similar to chimpanzees than we are different because of the many behaviors and traits that are shared between the two. Furthermore, I also support Goodall in her statement that humans need to respect chimps more, because they are a very smart species of animals and if we are careless with deforsting their habitats and building roads, then our grandkids may grow up without ever seeing on of these creatures or the amazing things that they are capable…
More than 100 million animals every year suffer and die in cruel chemical, drug, food and cosmetic tests, biology lessons, medical training exercises, and curiosity-driven medical experiments…