CH. 8 + 9 (What about Us?) Flashcards
Raymond Dart
Anthropologist who was handed part of “the missing link” ‘s fossilized remains.
Australopithecus Africanus
Southern Ape Man (species name coined by Raymond Dart)
Taungs child
Specimen of “Southern ape-man” species found in Taung South Africa. Mix of human and ape like characteristics. Written about by Raymond Dart. Provided some of the first fossil evidence to back up Darwin’s claims that man evolved from Africa.
Human’s closest relative?
Chimps and Bonobos equally. We are not descended from chimps!! We simply had a common ancestor several million years ago which split
Did Darwin suggest we evolved from other species in “The Origin of Species”?
No, he knew the controversial firestorm that would ignite if he did. He definitively stated this later on in The Descent of Man ten years later. A.R. Wallace and Charles Lyell did not agree with Darwin on this point (natural selection couldn’t have produced something so smart as humans).
Human features that identify us as primates?
forward-facing eyes, fingernails, colour vision, opposable thumbs (includes monkeys, apes, lemurs)
Hominoidea
smaller superfamily that includes lesser apes (gibbons) and great apes (chimps, gorillas, orangutans, and ourselves)
Hominidae
great apes. flattened fingernails, 32 teeth, enlarged ovaries, prolonged parental care.
Missing Link
Single ancestral species that gave rise to both modern humans and chimps. Likely that it looks closer to chimps than humans. Has not been discovered and is not reasonable to expect such a discovery because we would need complete human and chimp fossil record.
How can we tell we have changed more than modern apes?
Humans have many divergent features while chimps, gorillas, and orangutans are similar.
Do we have a continuous fossil record of human ancestry?
No. We have a mosaic of fossils and we are not sure if they are evolutionary dead ends or part of the single thread that became modern humans. Possible that as many as four human-like species lived in Africa at same time.
Hominin
All species on human side of split of our common ancestor with chimps
Sahelanthropus tchadensis
Possibly an older hominin, discovered in 2002 by Michael Brunet between 6-7 mil years old (close to split). Maybe earliest human ancestor!
Orrorin Tugensis
6 mil year old species we found some bone fragments of
AL 288-1 or “Lucy”
Specimen of Australopithecus afarensis. Showed that bipedalism evolved before larger brains (femur angles inwards).
Laetoli footprints
Fossilized footprints found in Tanzania confirming bipedality of A. afarensis (only hominin on record from 3.6 mil YA). Fossilized human behaviour.
Difference between genus Homo and Australopithecus?
They’re sort of borderline, but genus homo generally has larger brain (arbitrary cut off size though of arouns 600 cubic cm)
Homo Habilis
2.5 mil years old, first tool using human
What species are in the genus Paranthropus?
Bosei, robustus, and aethiopicus (robust hominins) all three of which went extinct leaving no descendants
Homo erectus
first hominin to Leave Africa (remains have been found in China (peking man), Indonesia (Java man, bones that Dubois hid under his house), Europe and Middle East)
How successful was H. erectus?
Very—large pop and was around for 1.5 mil years ish. Went extinct 300 000 years ago but may have left descendants — H. heidelbergensis and H. neanderthalensis.
Why do neanderthal fossils disappear around 28 000 YA?
Trick question, we don’t know. Seems like homo sapiens outcompeted every other species.
“Multi-regional” theory
Theory that explains why neanderthals and H. erectus disappeared. Evolutionary replacement: H. erectus (and perhaps neanderthals) evolved into H. sapiens independently in several areas. Doesn’t make much sense however because it would imply a much greater genetic difference than what exists currently between populations.
“Out of Africa” Theory
Modern H. sapiens originated in Africa and spread, physically replacing H. erectus and Neanderthals. Outcompeted them.
