AMU ANTH 100: Be An Anthropologist Essay

There are two fossil species available to the study of Ardipithecus: Ar. ramidus and Ar. kadabba (Gibbons, 2009). There is much greater evidence to analyze Ar. ramidus, a hominine that lived from the Late Miocene to the Early Pliocene (Gibbons, 2009). The 1994 discovery of A. ramidus, commonly referred to as Ardi, included “125 pieces of her skeleton” such as “pelvis, hands, arms, leg, and feet” (Gibbons, 2009, p. 1598). Furthermore, it was determined that Ardi was a female “based on probability assessments of canine size” (White et al., 2009, p. 80). The same paper also argues paper that Ardi lived in the “Afar Rift region of northeastern Ethiopia” six

Australopithecus ramidus represents the oldest species that possesses certain features that create a unequivocal link to the hominin lineage. Both sites from which Ar. ramidus fossils were recovered , every site offers slightly totally different environment reconstructions. At Gona, several massive mammal fauna related to Ar. ramidus are intense grazers, which might indicate a environment with a major grass-covered peice. different indicators from Gona, however, recommend that the atmosphere was a a lot of mosaic environs, consisting of closed woodlands and a lot of open, grass-covered environments. Similar proof from the components of the middle awash region wherever Ar. ramidus has been found, in contrast, result in reconstructions of a closed woodland. though the Aramis reconstruction suggests a a lot of closed surroundings, each environment reconstructions square measure in keeping with the concept that bipedality at first evolved during a time of woodland surroundings instead

The overall stature of Australopithecines compared to of that of Paranthropus, is smaller. Based on the estimates of Johanson and Edgar, 2006; Jungers, 1988, I created a table (Figure 1) illustrating the size of both genera. The average weight of a male in the genus Australopithecines is 43 kg and for Paranthropus is 44.5 kg. The average weight of a female in the genus Australopithecines is 29.5 kg and for Paranthropus is 33 kg. The average male height for Australopithecines is 1.45 m and for Paranthropus it is 1.35 m. The average female height for genus Australopithecines is 1.10 m and for the genus Paranthropus it is 1.15 m. Both genera have sexual dimorphism, where the females are of smaller stature and weight. This type of sexual dimorphism

Australopithecus, group of extinct creatures closely related to, if not actually ancestors of, modern human beings and known from a series of fossils found at numerous sites in eastern, central, and southern Africa. The various species of Australopithecus lived during the. As characterized by the fossil evidence, they bore a combination of human. Like humans, they were bipedal (that is, they walked on two legs. But like apes, they had small brains. Their canine teeth were small like those of humans, but their cheek teeth were large. The genus name meaning “southern ape” refers to the first fossils found, which were discovered in South Africa. the most famous example of Australopithecus is “Lucy,”. Homo erectus was one of the hominid species,

Australopithecus afarensis is one of the best known of the of the australopithecine species with Laetoli footprints found in Tanzania and many bones and bone fragments found in Ethiopia and Kenya. Because of certain very well preserved remains, we can tell a lot about this species. The most famous of these remains is “Lucy”, a skeleton with remains from almost every bone dating 3.2 million years old. This is a sexually dimorphic bipedal species, meaning the males and females have different characteristics and they walk on two legs. Males tend to be about 1 and 1/2 times the size of females and have larger canine teeth, but these teeth are still smaller than those of the Chimpanzee. Body size ranges between 1.1 and 1.6 meters and weight can be anywhere between 29 and 45 kilograms. This species has a jutting lower face (prognathic) and closely resemble an ape from the waist up and a human from the waist down. The curvature that the fingers and toes and elevated position of the shoulder joint show that this species is more adapted to tree climbing than more recent human ancestors.

Thus, universal common ancestry entails the transformation of one species into another and, consequently, macroevolutionary history and processes involving the origin of higher taxa. Because it is so well supported scientifically, common descent is often called the by biologists. For these reasons, proponents of special creation are especially hostile to the macroevolutionary foundation of the biological sciences. This article dirThis article directly addresses the scientific evidence in favor of common descent and microevolution.evolution, the overarching concept that unifies the biological sciences, in fact embraces a plurality of theories and hypotheses. In evolutionary debates one is apt to hear evolution roughly parceled between the terms "microevolution" and "macroevolution". Microevolution, or change beneath the species level, may be thought of as relatively small scale change in the functional and genetic constituencies of populations of organisms. That this occurs and has been observed is generally undisputed by critics of evolution. What is vigorously challenged,

Introduction: This report talks about evolution and four factors that contributed to evolution. The four factors are fossil record, geographical distribution, similarities in embryos, and homologous body structures. Evolution is the change of features over generations from different species of animals.

Australopithecus Afarensis, is the name applied to an extinct family of hominids (Primates) to have lived some 2.9-3.9 million years ago. “Lucy” an A. Afarensis fossil is considered one of the best examples of this species which are believed to have survived for some 900,000 plus years which is roughly 4 four times the duration we as humans have existed. The A. Afarensis is considered a gracile species, which means to be smaller and of a lighter build than the genus Australopithecus. It is maintained that A. Afarensis is more closely related to the genus homo then we Homo sapiens are. While A. Afarensis fossils have been found mainly in East Africa, there does exist evidence of Australopithecus Afarensis existed at sites in Hadar, Ethiopia. (More on that later).

This is because the cranial capacity is fairly easy to measure with an absolute brain size of 600cc being used as a defining feature of the genus Homo. However, some early Homo species had smaller brains than Australopiths (Morton, 2016), suggesting it may not be appropriate to consider cranial capacity alone, particularly as cranial fossil remains can be problematic when often found damaged. Endocranial casts can also be used to infer whether a species had developed spoken language, a feature used to distinguish Homo species. However, definitive evidence for the development of spoken language is poor and can’t be reliably interpreted from the appearance of endocranial casts (Wood & Collard, 1999). Tool use may also be connected with an increased cognitive ability and can be used to determine species within the genus Homo. However, stone tool deposits dating 2.6-2.3 million years old have been found in East Africa (Wood & Collard, 1999), linking them to later species of Australopiths, suggesting this may be an unreliable characteristic to use.

In the area of knowledge of science, Darwin’s theory of evolution is evaluated to provide understanding of the statement “facts are needed to establish theories but theories are needed to make sense of facts.” Evolution is the change in heritable characteristics of a species over time. Isolated populations, after a long period of evolution, gradually diverge into a new species. Facts of Darwin’s theory comes from evidences such as fossil records can proves that many species have become extinct. Secondly, it shows succession in the forms and shapes of

First, species evolve in ways that improve, or at least maintain, their ability to live. Communities, however, do not undergo the same process. No community evolves as a unit. Species may evolve in ways that are mostly influenced by ecology. This means that species evolve by their relationship with one or a few species, which in turn allows the others to evolve as well. Coevolution is commonly described as a change in the genetic composition of one species, or group, in response to a genetic change in another and was coined by Ehrlich and Raven after observing plant-herbivore interactions. Around the same time, Charles Darwin published The Origin of Species, which also spoke of the

Just to make it fair for all readers , the Australopithecus is the genus of Pliocene and Pleistocene hominids. A major characteristic of a hominid is bipedal locomotion or walking upright on two legs. Several types of Australopithecines have been found but all lived Africa mostly east Africa about four million years ago. The Australopithecus is the first definite hominid but they all slightly differ in their features. All species of the Australopithecus can be split into either a gracile or robust australopithecine. The gracile group consists of species with smaller dentition and lighter facial features and includes the

From the early Greek to the Darwinism era until modern evolution theory we have seen many changes in the theory of evolution. There are many theories from the beginning until recent modern evolutionary of evolution. The progress continue to answer any doubts beyond the science of evolution. All species or organism have actually originated through the process of biological evolution and through the study of the history of evolution it tells us on how the theories develop until what it is today.

One of the things the archeologist noticed was that the Australopithecus Africanus lived in groups. From the fossils that that they found, the males were thought to have been robust of the species. The females bone structure was described as gracile. One can conclude that the male Australopithecus Africanus was had a robust structure because it need to hunt for their pack and they needed to procect their pack from other predators or groups. From their fossils archeologist believed that the Australopithecus Africanus used rocks as their basic tools. Australopithecus Africanus were believed to have a brain size ranging from 450 to 500 cubic centimeters, the average brain size for a human in in this point in time is roughly 1360 cubic centimeters.

Thoeries of Evolution      Evolution is the process by which living organisms originated on earth and have changed their forms to adapt to the changing environment. The earliest known fossil organisms are the single-celled forms resembling modern bacteria; they date from about 3.4 billion years ago. Evolution has resulted in successive radiations of new types of organisms, many of which have become extinct, but some of which have developed into the present fauna and flora of the world (Wilson 17).      Evolution has been studied for nearly two centuries. One of the earliest evolutionists was Jean Baptiste de Lamarck, who argued that the patterns of resemblance found in various creatures