Section 31.5 (Exam 3)

Question 1

What was a major adaptation to arboreal life and distinguished the primates?

Answer 1

Grasping limbs with opposable digits

Question 2

What are two major clades of primate?

Answer 2

Wet-nosed primates and dry-nosed primates

Question 3

What groups are wet-nosed primates?

Answer 3

Lemurs and lorises

Question 4

What groups are dry-nosed primates?

Answer 4

Tarsiers, monkeys, and apes

Question 5

What are two groups of monkeys?

Answer 5

New World monkeys and Old World monkeys

Question 6

What features distinguish New World monkeys?

Answer 6

All of them are arboreal and have a long prehensile tail

Question 7

What features distinguish Old World monkeys?

Answer 7

Some are arboreal, some are terrestrial, and none of them have prehensile tails

Question 8

What lineage arose from the Old World monkeys?

Answer 8

The lineage leading to modern apes and humans

Question 9

What are the two groups of apes that came from Old World monkeys?

Answer 9

Asian apes and African apes

Question 10

What animals are included within Asian apes?

Answer 10

Gibbons and orangutans

Question 11

What did one lineage of African apes split into about 6 million years ago?

Answer 11

Chimpanzees and the hominin clade

Question 11

What animals are included within African apes?

Answer 11

Gorillas, chimpanzees, and humans

Question 12

How are chimpanzees related to humans?

Answer 12

They are our closest relatives

Question 13

What does the clade hominin include?

Answer 13

modern humans and extinct relatives

Question 14

What feature did early hominins have?

Answer 14

bipedal locomotion

Question 15

What advantages did bipedal locomotion afford early hominins?

Answer 15

More energetically economical than quadruped locomotion

Frees forelimbs to manipulate and carry objects

Elevates eyes to look for prey

Question 16

What genus did the hominin lineage give rise to?

Answer 16

Homo

Question 17

Which was the first hominin to leave Africa, and spread as far as eastern Asia?

Answer 17

Homo erectus

Question 18

Describe some characteristics of Homo erectus.

Answer 18

They were as large as modern humans, but with smaller brains and thicker skulls.

Question 19

Why did Homo erectus have a thicker skull than modern humans?

Answer 19

Because it afforded better protection

Question 20

What tools did Homo erectus use to survive?

Answer 20

fire and stone tools

Question 21

What evolutionary trend regarding structures near the skull ocurred in lineages leading to Homo sapiens?

Answer 21

Brain size rapidly increase and jaw muscles decreased in size

Question 22

What is an example of neoteny in humans?

Answer 22

adult human skull stays about the same shape as the baby skull and is large relative to other features

Question 23

How does the skull change shape in chimpanzees?

Answer 23

The skull shape changes dramatically with maturation

Question 24

Why was increasing brain size evolutionarily favored for hominins?

Answer 24

Due to an increasingly complex social life, features that increased communication between individuals would have been favored

Question 25

What era did several homo species coexist within, and what did they hunt?

Answer 25

The Pleistocene; they hunted large mammals

Question 26

Which hominin was widespread in Europe and Asia?

Answer 26

Homo neanderthalensis

Question 27

Name some characteristics of Homo neanderthalensis.

Answer 27

Short and stocky, with large brains

Question 28

Who were the Denisovans?

Answer 28

A lineage related to Homo neanderthalensis

Question 29

What did the development of large brains, complex behaviors, and language lead to within Homo sapien culture?

Answer 29

Cultural transmission facilitated domestication of animals and transformation of most societies from hunting and gathering to agriculture and herding

This led to sedentary lives, cities, and occupational specialization