African Great Ape Anthropology

Primates first evolved from the trees of tropical forests, later to the ground. Through the times of promisians to human, many characteristics has been represented due to the adaptations to new environments and resulted in evolutionary changes. The Earth has encountered several geological and climatic changes over time. For the primates existed at that time had to adjust itself especially in body configurations and locomotion in order to better survive. It is important to be aware of this information since we are the part of occurring changes as well. Throughout the evolution owing to

In the documentary "Ape Genius", researchers conducted a series of experiments to determine the social and intellectual capabilities of chimps and bonobos. Describe two of these experiments (the procedure, the subject and observations) and the conclusions that were drawn from them. In your opinion, are these experiments, proof of the inferior or superior intelligence of apes compared to humans? Explain.

In the Article “Redrawing Humanity’s Family Tree” by John Noble Wilford, describes how two different skulls challenge the theories of human origins and migrations. The Central African skull, that dates back to nearly 7 million years ago, was assigned to a whole new genus and species because of its apelike and evolved hominid species. The 1.75-million-year-old Georgian skull shows evidence that the first hominids may have been intercontinental travelers who set motion the migrations that occupied the whole planet. Finally a third skull was found that is the same age and shares a resemblance but, the size of the skull suggests that the brain was smaller than expected for H. erectus.

Homo floresiensis (“Man of Flores”) is the name for a possible new species in the genus Homo, remarkable for its small body, small brain, and survival until relatively recent times (www.en.wikipedia.org). Anthropologists Peter Brown of University of New England in South Wales, Australia, Michael Morwood and their colleagues have argued that a variety of features, both primitive and derived, identified LB1 (the first skeleton found in cave of Liang Bua) is that of a new species of hominin, Homo floresiensis. The first specimens were discovered by Thomas Sutikna and colleagues from the Indonesian Research Centre for Archaeology in Liang Bua cave of Flores, Indonesia in September of 2003

Opening the documentary with scenes of chimpanzees navigating the forest while wielding rudimentary spears is quite frightening. Often, it is thought that humans are the only species on Earth that can make and utilize tools (such as weapons), and that is largely attributed to humans' advanced bipedalism. However, chimps have begun to use stripped down branches that are then sharpened by their teeth to hunt and catch a variety of prey. This means that chimps took distinct steps to create a weapon and conduct a hunt, and that can be related to humans' early ancestors and their rudimentary ways of life. This has major implications for two reasons: the first being that chimps are advancing intellectually and possibly socially as they seem to organize

Introduction This first lecture is designed to introduce the primate order in terms of its classification and to familiarise you with the animals so that the rest of the course makes some sort of sense. I will cover a working definition of what makes a primate, give you a general classification scheme, describe the major features that identify the groups within the classification and discuss some of the controversial areas of the classification. I shall treat the taxonomy as a synonym for classification which seems to be its commonest current usage, although you should be aware that some people consider taxonomy to be more about the principles behind the classification than the classification itself.

Michel Brunet and his team found the fossil in the sand dunes of northern Chad after “a decade of digging”(Whitfield 2002). This discovery is most definitely a new one and one that will cause the reinterpretation of all previous hominid research. What makes this find so spectacular is that the structure of the skull suggests a being that walked upright, though it lived in a time when apes and chimpanzees also existed. “Sahelanthropus has many traits that shout ‘hominid’. These include smaller canines, and thicker tooth enamel than apes. And the point at the back of the skull where neck muscles attach suggests that Toumai walked upright”(Whitfield 2002). The key to this discovery, Brunet believes, is the back of the skull that suggests a muscle attachment for upright walking ability, which supports the scientist’s theory that

Primates first evolved from the trees of tropical forests, later to the ground. Through the times of prosimians to human, many characteristics has been represented due to the adaptations to new environments and resulted in evolutionary changes. The Earth has encountered several geological and climatic changes over time. For the primates existed at that time had to adjust itself especially in body configurations and locomotion in order to better survive. It is important to be aware of this information since we are the part of occurring changes as well. Throughout the evolution owing to the transforming environments interacting with natural selection, primates developed their own ways to move better (meaning changes in locomotion) with different types of bodies (meaning changes in body configuration).

All primates are descended from tree-dwellers, showing adaptations which permit for tree climbing which include: a moving shoulder joint, divided big toes as well as the thumb for gripping, and also stereoscopic eyesight.

“How old is the oldest human fossil?,” If you had said about 700,000 years, you would probably have been right until just recently that is, “The September 1998 issue of Discover magazine”, reports that Ernesto Abbate, a geology professor from Florence, Italy, has just discovered the fossilized skull and teeth of a humanlike creature who might have lived, as far back as, one million years ago. Calling this creature Buia Man after the city in northeastern Africa where the remains were found. Prof. Abbate thinks he has discovered the earliest fossil that displays physical features associated with Homo sapiens, the species to which modern humans belong. Moreover, Buia Man says, Prof. Abbate also shows physical

In 2003 archaeologists discovered the remains of a possible early human ancestor in Indonesia. These remains were found in the Liang Bua cave on Flores Island, Indonesia, and so far this is the only location where similar specimens have been found. It is estimated that H. floresiensis lived between 74,000 and 17,000 years ago (Olszewski, 2016). If this is accurate, it would have lived contemporarily with Homo erectus, Homo neanderthalensis, and most recently Homo sapiens. Homo floresiensis had an unusually short body and small brain size for a Homo in the Late Pleistocene. It displayed a Homo erectus cranial shape but not size, earlier Hominid-like limb proportions, and other primitive, advanced, and unique skeletal features. It was well suited for life on a densely forested isolated island that would have had a limited food source thus contributing to its small size (Lyras et al., 2008). There is much debate on whether these fossils represent a new species of Homo, whether it is a late survivor of the Homo erectus migration out of Africa, or even be classified within a group of hominids that migrated out of Africa pre-Homo erectus.

Homo Floresiensis, also known as “hobbit” were discovered by scientist in Eastern Indonesia on the island Flores, which is also what they were named after. In total twelve indigenous human remains were found. To date, there are not a large range of fossils that have been found and there appears to be ongoing studies to uncover more information concerning this species. Therefore, this paper will explore the geographical location, age, anatomy, and the origin of these fossils, in an attempt to conclude if in fact the H. Floresiensis were an isolated population and if they are of a human or non -human descent.

There has been many scientific research and development done in order to find more about the modern human’s ancestors. Hominid evolution is a lengthy process of change occurring million years ago. Modern humans, Homo sapiens, are the only surviving species of the genus Homo. Three ancestors that share close relationships and characteristics with Homo sapiens are Homo habilis, Homo erectus, and Homo Neanderthalensis. These three ancestors are important to know about because they show how humans have become the way they are.

garhi fossils give evidence that it could have possibly been an ancestor to the Homo genus. One of those characteristics lies within the dentition. The ratio between A. garhi’s canines and premolars is similar to that of the Homo genus, but it is also important to note that other australopithecines, A. afarensis and A. africanus, have similar ratios. However, where A. garhi differs from these australopithecines is in the size and robustness of their molars. Less robust molars could mean that A. garhi was eating less fibrous foods and shifting to a more omnivorous diet. This hypothesis is somewhat supported by the finding of fossilized stone tools near the discovery sites. It is theorized that A. garhi might have used these stone tools to eat meat and marrow from bones, as animal bones found near the discovery site show distinctive cut marks (“Australopithecus Garhi” 2016). Another characteristic that supports its connection to the Homo genus is the shortening of the long bones of the lower arm and the elongation of the femur in the upper leg. Through a comparison of these long bones to other hominin species, this has been a proposed model of long bone evolution from chimpanzees to modern humans. In this model, A. garhi is thought to be the intermediary to this evolution, with the long bones of the arm more comparable to Homo sapiens while the femur had yet to undergo elongation. However, the femur is longer than other

The origin of the genus Homo is widely debated, with several candidate ancestors being proposed in the genus Australopithecu. I believe that Au. garhi gave rise to the genus homo. I believe this to be true because even though it is believed that the Au. afarensis was most likely ancestor of the genus homo, the ancesteral-descendent linkage between the two taxa was difficult to identify, owing the virtual lack of a hominid fossil record in the East African dating to 3-2 mya, the timing during which earliest Homo likely evolved. The Au. garhi was found in Bouri, in Ethiopia's Middle Awash region, and it is dated to about 2.5 mya. The Au. garhi is represented by bones, teeth, a partial skeleton, and a skull. For the first time in hominin evolution,