Chapter 7 Flashcards
Which of the following primate traits are believed to have been selected for life in trees?
stereoscopic vision and an opposable thumb
Which primates used to live over much of Asia but now are found only on two islands in Indonesia?
Orangutans
Primatology helps anthropologists make inferences about the early social organization of hominids and untangle issues of human nature and the origins of culture.
true
Bonobos, which belong to the same genus as chimpanzees, are exceptional among primates because of
the frequency with which they have sex, a behavior associated with conflict avoidance.
What are the eras of ancient, middle, and recent life, respectively?
Paleozoic, Mesozoic, Cenozoic
The study of nonhuman primates, using both fossils and living apes, monkeys, and prosimians (including their behavior and social life) is known as…
primatology.
Discussions of primate and human evolution must be tentative because…
we don’t know everything yet…we are just starting to scrape the surface of this stuff.
Which of the following is an example of an analogy?
dolphin fins and fish fins
What species do some think coexisted with Homo erectus in Asia?
Gigantopithecus
Based on scientific theories of evolution, humans are not descended from gorillas or chimps. Rather,
humans and African apes share one heck of an amazing common ancestor.
Humans and apes belong to the same taxonomic superfamily, Hominoidea.
true
Arboreal primates tend to be smaller and more agile.
true
What is the term for traits that organisms have jointly inherited from a common ancestor?
homologies
Sexual dimorphism tends to be more pronounced in terrestrial primate species.
true
We live in the Cenozoic Era
true
