Which of the following species, in the human evolutionary line, are believed to have been bipedal…
Quality of Bipedalism: Neanderthals walked with a fully upright posture. They remain far more closely related to us than most of the other extinct hominins.…
Sahelanthropus tchadensis has a skull with an elongated shape with a relatively short, vertical face, which is set high relative to the skull vault. The eyes are set far apart from each other and have a very large continuous bony brow ridge above them. Examination of the lower jaw reveals that Sahelanthropus had a total of thirty two teeth, which is common in all Old World monkeys, apes, and humans. The foramen magnum (where the skull opens for spinal cord passage) is positioned forward and oriented downward. Sahelanthropus has a nose opening that a midline reaches down to the bony palate, as seen in gibbons and monkeys. By contrast, humans and African apes have a nose opening that is set well above the mouth even at its midline.…
The Taung child was found with the whole face and lower jaw complete with many teeth (Figure 2). As well, most of the cranium portion was intact with a natural endocast of the braincase (Dart, 1925). Only in very rare cases does a fossil have an endocast. Dart focused on the features of the brain because he saw signs of cerebral advancement towards humans. The foramen magnum was positioned upright from the spinal cord which is present in bipedal locomotion in an upright position. When the foramen magnum is positioned directly above the neck, it allows carriage of the head and the ability to look downwards. Four-legged creatures walk with their eyes facing forward, thus the foramen magnum is positioned at the rear of the skull. The bipedal motion…
Key innovation in human evolution is the development of bipedalism and gradual increase in size of brains. The evolution might have occurred due to change in climate and environment which lead to reduction and replacement of trees with grasslands. Due to presence of large numbers of trees, it was easier for our ancestors to have quadrupedalism instead of bipedalism, so that they can climb on trees and move from one place to another. But with the decrease in number of trees, requirement for bipedalism increased. In an article by Wayman E. (2012), it has been mentioned that Lucy had the anatomy of bipead. Lucy belongs to Australopithecus afarensis. It is estimated that Lucy lived 3.2 mya. Her pelvis was broad and she has thigh bones which were…
Over decades, many Americans reject the ideas of evolution and there were many arguments against the theory of human evolution. However, in order to understand how the human developed, we must look at the human evolution. For many centuries, we have been curious about our origins and our human bodies structure. How we got to be the kind of species we are today, such as the way we look; walking upright on two legs, our hands has five fingers, the size of our brain and teeth, and what makes us a unique species. Our animal ancestors have shaped our body structure in many ways, we humans have a lot in common than you might think with apes, reptiles and even fish.…
Chapter 2, Getting a Grip, talks about the connections between the human and other creatures’ limbs. It also talks about Shubin’s fossil, Tiktaalik, and the unique specialized limbs it had.…
In order to be able to walk or run on two feet many evolutionary changes had to occur, early humans had to develop arches in their feet, curved spines, specialized hips, and specialized knees. The muscle structure of the early human body also had to…
Human are classified in the primate order. The primate order contains countless species of prosimians, monkeys, apes, and us. Moreover even though humans are classified along with other primates the nearest relative is chimpanzees. Similarly, humans and chimpanzees share, “anatomy, and genetic material” that has been noted for several years now. By sharing similar traits it is noted as a vital part of human evolution. Human evolution is the development of humans also known as Homo sapiens. Homo sapiens are categorized in the Hominidae family, a family that has shown to ensure increased brain size with complexity and bipedalism. Chimpanzees have undergone many different changes during that resulted in binocular vision, mobile digits without claws but nails, decreasing in sense of smell due to a reduced snout, large and complex brains. Specific traits are illustrated distinctively within humans (Kottak, 2009).…
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.…
The characteristic that separates primates from hominids is bipedalism; means walking in two feet. These characteristics can be seen in the skeletal structures that have different traits that are: the pelvis is vertical, the spine is curved in an S shape and the last trait is that the arms are shorter than the legs.…
They have nails on all digits and do not have a tail. Sexual dimorphism is slightly apparent in chimpanzees as the males seem a little bigger than the females. Their habitual mode of locomotion is knuckle walking on ground and climbing. The chimpanzee cage in the LA Zoo had about eight individuals from what I could see at the time. Although I could not clearly distinguish the sex of the chimpanzees, I concluded there were three males, three females and two immature individuals.…
The human pelvis is primarily adapted for upright, two-legged waling and running, it also favored the widening of the female pelvis to allow larger- brained babies to be born.…
It’s probably harder and we cannot run fast doing so just because we have evolved out of being quadrupeds. But looking at the fastest animals in the world, most of the fastest animals run on four legs. I’m not saying that we should run on all fours but that speed was no longer a necessity in our survival. There are many disadvantages of being biped as well as advantages. I have noticed that almost all of these disadvantages are directly correlated with the advantages. Basically, everything in our evolution process was a system of trade-offs. A perfect example of this is shown here, “Still other advantages of Bipedalism would have enhanced survivability. With their heads up well above the ground, bipeds are able to spot predators before they get too close for safety.”, which can be compared to, “ Bipedalism makes an animal more visible to predators, and exposes its ‘soft underbelly’.” See how it’s all a system of trade-offs? I could show many more examples, but you get the point. More disadvantages of Bipedalism are limiting the ability to run faster or change direction quicker when running. “Quadrupedal baboons and chimpanzees are 30 – 34 percent faster than…
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…