Mammals Flashcards

1
Q

About how many species of mammals are there?

A

~5000

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2
Q

What are the 3 unique features of mammals?

A
  1. hair
  2. sweat glands
  3. mammary glands
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3
Q

Which evolved first, mammals or birds?

A

Mammals!

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4
Q

About how many years ago did mammals evolve? And phylogenically, are they more related to amphibians or reptiles?

A

During carboniferous period, about 350 MYA.
They’re closer to reptiles.
First the amphibians split off from the amniota, then the amniota split into reptiles & mammals.

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5
Q

Skull morphology is really important for distinguishing amniotes. Describe the 3 extant skull types and the 1 extinct one.

A
  1. Anapsids (no hole - turtles)
  2. Synapsids (one big hole - mammals, therapsids)
  3. Diapsids (2 holes, dinos & birds)
  4. EXTINCT Euryapsids (marine reptiles)
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6
Q

What is the difference between the jaw bones of reptiles & mammals?

A

Reptiles have lots of jaw bones, in mammals some of these bones have migrated up to form mammalian middle-ears.

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7
Q

What allowed mammals to radiate & diversify?

A

Dinos going extinct, allowed mammals to fill now-empty niches & return to ocean.

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8
Q

What is the ancestor of whales?

A

“Ambulocetus”

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9
Q

What was the megatherium?

A

A giant ground sloth, herbivorous, elephant-sized.

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10
Q

Why did smilodon & megatherium go extinct?

A

Human hunting.

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11
Q

What are the 3 groups of mammals?

A
  1. Prototherians (egg laying, platypus, echidna)
  2. Marsupials (pouch development)
  3. Eutherians (placental)
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12
Q

Do marsupials have a placenta?

A

Yes they can, so it’s not only the eutherians that have placentas.

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13
Q

How do fetuses get nutrition/oxygen from the mom? What kind of veins/arteries carry these to/from the mom?

A

Diffusion - no direct blood mixing.

Two arteries carry deoxygenated blood back to the mother, whereas a vein carries fresh blood towards the fetus.

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14
Q

How does the fetal heart adapt quickly to independent circulation once the baby is born?

A

Aortic holes close up.

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15
Q

What are the 2 groups of primates?

A
  • Prosimians (arboreal & nocturnal - lemur, loris. only Madagascar & SE-Asia)
  • Anthropoids
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16
Q

Is the tarsier a prosimian or an anthropoid?

A

Anthropoid.

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17
Q

What is the diff between old-world & new world monkeys?

A

Old world: Africa, Asia, Indonesia
NO prehensile tail. (ex. baboons, vervets)

New world: Where humans colonized, Americas.
Prehensile tail, flat noses, arboreal. (ex. capuchins, vervets)

18
Q

What’s the diff between monkeys & apes?

A

Apes have a larger brain to body size ratio (bigger brains)

19
Q

Which are bigger, gibbons or apes?

A

Apes.

20
Q

Which came approximately first, ardipethecus or australopithecus?

A

Ardipithecus.

21
Q

What came first, modern big brain size or bipedalism?

A

Bipedalism.

22
Q

What type of hominid was Lucy?

A

Australopithecus.

23
Q

When did hominids begin to use tools?

A

~ 2 MYA

24
Q

What was remarkable about homo erectus, aside from standing up?

A

Around 1.6 MYA, left Africa, first used fire.

25
Q

Who had bigger brains, Sapiens or Neanderthalensis?

A

Neanderthalensis!

26
Q

How much of non-Africans’ DNA is neanderthal?

A

1.5-2.1%

27
Q

What’s special about Homo floresiensis?

A

Survived until 17k years ago, probably extinct because of volcanic eruption. Were like dwarf humans, very small.

28
Q

Which humunculus has genitals, the somatosensory or the motor?

A

Only the somatosensory.

29
Q

London taxi driver study - what area of the hippocampus was enlarged?

A

Mid-posterior.

30
Q

Does the amygdala encode acoustic features of stimulus or its affective valence?

A

Both!

31
Q

What are the 5 mechanisms of evolution?

A
  1. Mutation
  2. Random genetic drift
  3. Natural selection (survival of the fittest)
  4. Sexual selection (reproductive success)
  5. Stabilizing Gene flow between individuals.
32
Q

What are the 2 types of sexual selection?

A
  1. Intra-sexual (competition)

2. Inter-sexual (female’s choice)

33
Q

What are the 3 major “species concepts”, in other words, 3 major ways of distinguishing species?

A
  1. Typological (as per morphology)
  2. Biological (look at interbreeding ability)
  3. Phylogenetic (evolutionarily separate or not)
34
Q

What’s the main problem with typological speciation?

A

Major gender differences in morphology, major adult/young differences in morphology. Also within-species morphological differences (think of dogs!!)

35
Q

What’s the main problem with the phylogenetic species concept?

A

Can’t be used for fossils, need DNA. Only reflects time, not reproductive barriers

36
Q

What is the problem with the biological species concept?

A

Difficult for allopatric populations (pops that split because of being physically apart), not clear whether they’re different species or if they were put back together they’d rebecome one.

Not useful for fossils.

37
Q

What are the 7 mechanisms of speciation?

A
  1. Uniform natural selection
  2. Divergent natural selection/ecological speciation
  3. Genetic drift
  4. Polyploidy
  5. Hybridization
  6. Sexual selection (attractiveness and conflict)
  7. Cytoplasmic incompatibility (differing microbiome)
38
Q

What’s the diff between population ecology & community ecology?

A
Population = study of demographics (births, deaths)
Community = study of interactions between species
39
Q

What does “inclusive fitness” refer to?

A

Individuals helping their kin reproduce at their own expense because they’re still passing on genes they share.

40
Q

What is the Allee effect?

A

High abundance of a species increases chances of reproductive success and vice versa

41
Q

What study was the beginning of community ecology?

A

The lynx & hare study looking at the population of hares when put in an environment with food + predators or food + no predators or no predator + no extra food