Chapter 9 - From Tree Shrew to An Ape

Question 1

what major extinction event occurred 252 million years ago?

Answer 1

Permian-Triassic e.v.
- aka: “the great dying”

Question 2

what happened during the Permian-Triassic e.v.?

Answer 2

volcanic eruptions resulting in 90% of all species being wiped out

Question 3

what period followed the Permian-Triassic e.v.?

Answer 3

the Triassic period

Question 4

what species dominated during the Triassic period?

Answer 4

Therapsids (warm blooded, furred creatures)

Question 5

what period followed the Triassic period?

Answer 5

the Jurassic period (dinosaurs)

Question 6

what period followed the Jurassic period?

Answer 6

the Cretaceous period

Question 7

what extinction event happened 66 million years ago?

Answer 7

the Cretaceous-Paleogene e.g.
- aka “K-Pg”

Question 8

what happened during the Cretaceous-Paleogene extinction?

Answer 8

a meteorite struck earth, wiping out the dinosaurs and the mammals underwent adaptive radiation

Question 9

what two factors influenced change in earth’s environments over time?

Answer 9

1. continental drift
2. climate change

Question 10

what temperature trend have we seen over the last 20 million years?

Answer 10

a cooling and drying trend

Question 11

what era follows the Cretaceous period? (and we are in now?)

Answer 11

the Cenozoic Era
- aka “the age of mammals”

Question 12

what are the 7 epochs within the Cenozoic Era?

Answer 12

1. Paleocene
2. Eocene
3. Oligocene
4. Miocene
5. Pliocene
6. Pleistocene
7. Holocene

Question 13

what epoch showed the first primates?

Answer 13

the Paleocene epoch

Question 14

what was significant about the Eocene epoch?

Answer 14

the first haplorrhines and strepsirrhines

Question 15

what epoch is associated with simiiformes?

Answer 15

the Oligocene epoch

Question 16

what was significant about the Miocene epoch?

Answer 16

the first fossils of apes “the age of apes” in Africa

Question 17

what epoch showed the first hominins?

Answer 17

the Pliocene epoch

Question 18

what was significant about the Pleistocene epoch?

Answer 18

showed the first anatomically modern humans

Question 19

what epoch are we in now?

Answer 19

the Holocene epoch

Question 20

what epoch was known for erratic temperatures?

Answer 20

the Pleistocene epoch

Question 21

what importance do deep sea cores have?

Answer 21

they show records of past climate and geology

Question 22

what importance do oxygen isotopes have?

Answer 22

they show records of past climate, there is a higher O18:O16 ratio in colder climates

Question 23

what type of anthropologists study fossils?

Answer 23

paleoanthropologists

Question 24

what is Radio-Carbon Dating?

Answer 24

using radioactive forms of carbon to date fossils, only effective within 60 000 years

Question 25

what is an isotope?

Answer 25

different forms of the same element based on the number of neutrons

Question 26

what is a half life?

Answer 26

half of the time it takes for half of a material to decay

Question 27

what does potassium-argon dating involve?

Answer 27

it uses volcanic rocks surrounding fossils

Question 28

what is an indirect dating method?

Answer 28

testing the materials surrounding a fossil rather than the fossil itself

Question 29

what is uranium-lead dating?

Answer 29

uses cave flow stones to determine the age of material

Question 30

what is the method of thermoluminescence?

Answer 30

testing of the last time a material was heated/exposed to light

Question 31

what is the method of electron spin resonance?

Answer 31

testing the last time a material was exposed to radiation

Question 32

what is the method of paleomagnetic dating?

Answer 32

detects shifts in the magnetic field

Question 33

what is the method of biostratigraphy?

Answer 33

sequences of species buried, that can tell us when a species lived in comparison to others buried there

Question 34

what are Plesiadapiforms?

Answer 34

- small species with primate like traits from North America

Question 35

what is the Arboreal Hypothesis?

Answer 35

the idea that primates evolved for life in the trees (e.g. grasping hands, binocular vision)

Question 36

what is the Angiosperm Hypothesis?

Answer 36

the idea that flowering plants and primates co-evolved

Question 37

what is the Visual Predation Hypothesis?

Answer 37

the idea that primates evolved to catch insects (e.g. enhanced vision, grasping hands)

Question 38

what are Adapids?

Answer 38

strepsirrhine ancestors (lemurs), diurnal, quadrupedal, larger than Omomyids

Question 39

what are Omomyids?

Answer 39

haplorrhine ancestors (tarsiers), nocturnal

Question 40

describe the Aegyptopithecus

Answer 40

frugivore, sexually dimorphic, 2123 dental formula, arboreal, quadruped (a haplorrhine)

Question 41

what are the new world vs old world monkeys?

Answer 41

new world: platyrrhines old world and apes: catarrhines

Question 42

how did old world monkeys and apes differentiate during the Miocene epoch?

Answer 42

apes became rare, and old world monkeys became plentiful

Question 43

what is the Proconsul?

Answer 43

the earliest ape ancestor -> no tail, quadrupedal, frugivore

Question 44

what is the earliest ape ancestor?

Answer 44

Proconsul

Question 45

what is Morotopithecus?

Answer 45

one of the earliest ape ancestors

Question 46

when did the last common ancestor of humans, chimpanzees and gorillas live?

Answer 46

8-10 million years ago

Question 47

when did the last common ancestor of humans, bonobos, and chimpanzees live?

Answer 47

8-5 million years ago

Question 48

who may have been an ancestor of Orangutans?

Answer 48

Sivapithecus