Test 2 - Questions

Question 1

What are apes better at than monkeys?

Answer 1

• swinging through trees
• being more upright
• hanging

Question 2

Why are there so many different names/subcategories for humans?

Answer 2

Observer Bias

Question 3

Are apes a clade?

Answer 3

Highly debated - however if apes are a clade, we are therefore apes

Question 4

Why is it possible that chimps have evolved more than we think they have?

Answer 4

• observer bias (we pay more attention to ourselves than chimps)
• hard to study ourselves

Question 5

What adaptations evolved from complex foraging strategies?

Answer 5

• clever hands
• walking upright
• big brains
• male-female cooperation
• social behaviour

Question 6

How did complex foraging promote cooperation in people?

Answer 6

• female/male: child care isn’t suitd to hunting lifestylfe
• people: promoted people with different skills to work together
• hunters: hunting success is highly variable

Question 7

What are some animals other than hominins that make tools?

Answer 7

• chimps
• elephants
• crows
• octopi

Question 8

When did early humans replace other hominins?

Answer 8

Around 2mya

Question 9

When did modern humans replace early humans?

Answer 9

Around 0.2mya

Question 10

Where did modern humans evolve?

Answer 10

Africa

Question 11

Is behaviour a result of nature or nurture?

Answer 11

Both! Behaviour is a result of both genetics and environmental influences

Question 12

What is the difference between a sign stimulus and a releaser?

Answer 12

A sign stimulus is a stimulus that triggers a fixed action pattern, however a releaser is a stimulus specifically between two organisms, which then triggers the FAP

Question 13

What are some traits of learned behaviour?

Answer 13

• it’s durable
• it’s usually adaptive
• it may be modified by experience
• it may be constrained by evolution
• individuals may improve behaviours over time as related to maturation

Question 14

What is the use of play as a behaviour?

Answer 14

It can be used to develop skills

Question 15

What is the difference between kinesis and taxis?

Answer 15

Kinesis is multidirectional, where taxis is uni-directional and it’s stimulus is usually sound, light, heat, or a magnetic field

Question 16

Why do females usually invest more in parental investment?

Answer 16

Because reproductive success is limited by ability to raise offspring

Question 17

Why do males invest more in mating effort?

Answer 17

Because reproductive success is limited by access to fertilizable eggs

Question 18

What is a sex role reversal?

Answer 18

When men care for the offspring, females compete for mates

Question 19

What is the equation for inclusive fitness?

Answer 19

Inclusive Fitness = individual (direct) fitness + indirect fitness

Question 20

What are the variables in Hamiltons Rule?

Answer 20

• r = coefficient of relatedness
• B = benefit to the recipient of the behaviour
• C = cost of the altruistic act to the donor’s individual fitness

Question 21

What are some morphological features of Modern Homo Sapiens?

Answer 21

• large, round skull
• high forehead
• protruding chin
• long limbs
• less robust skeleton

Question 22

Where and when did homo sapiens evolve?

Answer 22

Africa, 200 000 years ago

Question 23

What does the low genetic diversity of humans tell us?

Answer 23

It indicates a recent evolution, and that we probably descended from a small population (approx 12 000)

Question 24

How is genetic diversity measured?

Answer 24

Via average number of genetic differences per base pair (nucleotide) in a DNA sequence

Question 25

What does genetic variation tell us?

Answer 25

If evolution is occuring or not occurring

Question 26

Which species lived longer, had a longer life, and a higher population density?

Answer 26

The Upper Paleolithic Humans

Question 27

What is the percent difference in the DNA of modern humans and chimpanzees

Answer 27

There’s only a 1.3% difference

Question 28

Are most substitutions synonymous or non-synonymous?

Answer 28

Synonymous

Question 29

What does the HAR1 protein do?

Answer 29

Regulates brain protein

Question 30

What is the relevance of HARs ?

Answer 30

The abundance of HARs in humans might be one of the reasons why we are able to have such large complex brains

Question 31

What determines human variation?

Answer 31

Genetics and environmental factors

Question 32

Were our ancestors chimpanzees?

Answer 32

No. We have a common ancestor with chimpanzees, but humans and chimps are two different divergent branches of evolution

Question 33

Does human evolution represent a ladder, with a series of steps from ancestral anthropoid to homo sapiens?

Answer 33

No, human evolution is marked by many phylogenetic branches, with some dead ends and some species co-existing

Question 34

Did most human traits such as upright posture and large brains evolve together?

Answer 34

No, different characteristics evolved at different times

Question 35

What is the limiting factor for females in terms of reproduction?

Answer 35

Resources: they therefore favour males who can provide these resources

Question 36

What is the limiting factor for males in terms of reproduction?

Answer 36

Females: males therefore favor females who are healthy and fertile

Question 37

What makes human culture different than nonhuman culture?

Answer 37

Only humans have regular, cumulative culture

Question 38

How do humans learn culture?

Answer 38

• social facilitation
• observational learning
• imitation

Question 39

Why can it be argued that human evolution is over?

Answer 39

Most human change in the last 10 000 years is due to culture changes, not genetic evolution

Question 40

Why are there strict regulations about bringing plants or seeds from foreign countries into Canada?

Answer 40

Because there are concerns about negative impacts of invasive species on our native species