Primate origins

Question 1

Explain the 4 WHY questions (Timbergen)

Answer 1

Ontogeny (development), phylogeny (evolutionary history), function (adaptive value), causation (immediate circumstances)

Question 2

Human animals ‘order, family tribe, genus’

Answer 2

Humans in the order ‘primates’, family ‘hominidae, tribe ‘hominini’, genus ‘homo’

Question 3

Expand on the Thomas Huxley vs Bishop Wilberforce debate

Answer 3

The comparison of humans to primates was very controversial.

WIlberforce was averse to Huxley’s claim that man could be related to primates.

Question 4

What happened on the Tennessee and Texa School Board regarding evolution?

Answer 4

Tennessee School board- attempted to ban evolution from being in school textbooks, seen as a very ‘un-christian’ theory
Texas school board- proposed in their textbooks that evolution was merely one theory for where humans came from, along with intelligent design (features/living beings on earth created by an intelligent cause not by some process of natural selection.

Question 5

Evolutionary timescale key info to note

Answer 5

Primates and humans existence are a mere blip in the relative timescale of the earth’s history

Question 6

Give the key dates for each of these, must know for the exam:

1) When did the dinosaurs go extinct?
2) when was the appearance/evolution of the primates?
3) When did humans and chimps diverge (last common ancestor) ?
4) When did the great apes evolve?

Answer 6

1) Dinosaurs went extinct about 65 million years ago
2) Great apes evolved 65 million years ago too, since dinosaur extinction allowed for new niches to be explored
3) Humans diverged from chimps about 6 million years ago
4) Great apes evolved around 15 million years ago

Question 7

Give the proper name for chimpanzees

Answer 7

Pan troglodytes (italicised for typing, underline for writing)

Question 8

Provide some typical characteristics of primates

Answer 8

flat nails, not claws. carnivore teeth, dry nose, forward facing eyes, generalised teeth, opposable big toes and thumbs, binocular vision, generalised teeth, hind legged locomotion

Question 9

Carl von Linne (or Carlous linnadus) is the father of what?

Answer 9

Father of the modern taxonomy system

Question 10

Describe more specifically the binomial nomenclature

Answer 10

Capital for the genus i.e.
Homo, lower case for species i.e. ‘sapiens.
Italics when typing, underline when writing

Question 11

For homo sapiens, what is our order, parvorder, family, subfamily

Answer 11

order- primates
parvorder- catarrhini
family- hominidae
sub family- homininae
tribe- hominini
sub tribe- hominina

Question 12

What are the 5 great apes, which are we most related to?

Answer 12

Orangutans, bonobos, gorillas, chimpanzees, humans.

We’re most closely related to chimps/bonobos

Question 13

Why don’t humans have hairy faces anymore?

Answer 13

Adaptive value - bald faces improves effective signalling (i.e. showing emotions) or signals good health (lacking parasites) and so this was passed on since it is an adapative trait

Question 14

What is socioecology?

Answer 14

study of the ecological factors that shape the size and structure of social groups. The forces affect behaviour

Question 15

List key features of primate socioecology

Answer 15

Primate socioecology key features include:
mainly live in the equitorial belt (middle band of earth
> arborial (climb/live in trees) but have adapted to other habitats too i.e savannahs, mountains
> have a slower life history than similar-sized mammals (longer juvenile period, pregnancy and lifespan)
> slower development = more social environment
> live in groups, mainly small ones of about a dozen

Question 16

List the 4 key mating systems, aside from solitary

Answer 16

> polygany (males with multiple partners
polyandry (females with multiple partners)
monogamy (exclusive male-female mating)
polygynandry (both males and females have multiple partners)

Question 17

Distribution of resources, what kind of competition do they create?:
> clumped resources
> dispersed resources

Answer 17

clumped resources&raquo_space; contest competition (everyone fights over the resources
dispered resources&raquo_space; scramble competition (everyone tries to get enough for themselves, leave others alone largely.

Question 18

Which are more and less violent- chimps and bonobos

Answer 18

chimps- more violent

bonobos- less violent, the ‘hippies’

Question 19

Wolfgang Kohler’s work on social learning shows..?

Answer 19

Shows chimps are good at solving physical problems i.e. realised extending two sticks into one to make a longer tool to reach something

Question 20

Closer is not always better to our primates, limitations of study on chimps are?

Answer 20

W have caused primates to be endangered due to our over-involvement in their habitats, use for commerical purposes/mistreatment, research,