Evolution to Extinction of Non-Human Primates

What makes a primate a primate? A primate is defined by its many incredible features. A primate is a mammal that has certain characteristics such as: flexible fingers and toes, opposable thumbs, flatter face than other mammals, eyes that face forward and spaced close together, large and complex cerebrum, and social animals. What makes a primate a primate is its characteristics. Some of the physical features primates are identified by is their teeth, snouts, eyes, ears, arms, legs, fingers, and toes. Human evolution is a big part of humans being primates, and having similar features and characteristics make humans to be considered to be a primate, but both humans and non-humans have differences.

Finally, Lucy is a clear possible ancestor to mankind which supported the evolutionary theory. Lucy, an Australopithecus, lived 3.2 million

Ardipithecus has been discovered, an Ancestor that dates back prior to the remains of Lucy. In the article written by Ann Gibbons and others, it dives into the discovery of our most ancient ancestor and the clues given to us from all 110 remains that have been found of A. ramidus. First let me begin with Lucy whose remains were found in 1974 and that dated back to 3.2 million years ago. These skeletal remains gave us the evidence needed to prove that our ancient ancestors were bipedal before evolving their big brains. After Lucy was discovered the scientist found themselves with even more questions, such as, were any previous ancestors before Lucy bipedal or did

For many animals, the ability to move is essential for survival. Animals move for a variety of reasons such as: to find food, a mate, a habitat to live in, or to escape predators. It is important for animals to develop new abilities and traits to accomplish these necessities of living. Natural selection has shaped the locomotion methods and mechanisms used by moving organisms for millions of years. Generally, non-human primates are studied to garner an understanding of evolution caused by natural selection because of the many distinctive adaptations that have occurred within their taxonomic order. To understand the origin of locomotion that exist amongst primates, the two categories of primates must be analyzed to recognize morphological trait differences. Then, three major determinants can be evaluated to describe the variety of locomotor patterns primates display: the ecological niches in which the primate originates, the current inhabited niches, and the major key aspects of survival such as

NOVA scienceNOW : 41 - First Primates is a video that mainly talks about Primates who are ancient ancestors of human beings. Primates came out on the Earth 55million years ago when dinosaurs extinct due to collision between an immense comet and the Earth. Plesiadapiform, which is a possibly the first ancestor of primates and human beings, firstly evolved with a mouse-size organism during 10 million years. It existed during the 10 million year with diverse evidences that can show its validity of first ancester of primates. Nails of plesiadapiforms is a critical evidence that they are early ancestors of primates. Secondary proof is a tube-like structure which is found in the middle ear. It happens to be a tube for a huge vessel that goes to the

One of the main reasons why we are so interested in the other primates is that by looking at them we can obtain some ideas of what our ancestor must have been like a few millions years ago. Even though, we are not descended from any modern-type monkey or ape, our lineage does appear to have gone through stages in which we were a medium-sized, reasonably intelligent creature with good binocular vision, hands that were good at manipulation and the ability to climb trees. An evolutionary trend in primates involves the development of offspring both before and after birth and their integration into complex social systems. Another trend in primate evolution has been toward a more elaborate brain. In addition to brain size and gestation periods,

After reviewing the evidence, I believe that Dr. Donald Johanson is correct in his theory that Lucy is the missing link between ape and man. The anatomy of Lucy supports Johanson’s claim. The knee joint of Lucy had an outward slanting angle away from the knee just like humans. Lucy reconstructed pelvis with its short and curved ilium indicates bipedal human qualities. Unlike the Piltdown man, Lucy stood the test of time, Johanson’s fossils through potassium argon dating was found to be at least 3-million-years-old proving the integrity of Johanson’s find. Similar archeological finds also validate Lucy. The 1976 Laetoli footprints support the theory that there were hominids walking upright during the time of Lucy. In 1924, Raymond discovered the Tuang child in South Africa, it displays similar qualities of Lucy, small brain and bipedal abilities. Additional finds by Robert Broom, Richard Leakey, and many other creditable paleoanthropologists further prove Johanson correct.

This discovery was Ardipithecus ramidus, whose nickname is “Ardi”. Ardi seemed to fill the “gap” between apes and humans. Ardi had a mix of primitive traits and others that hominids share. Her pelvis supported bipedal locomotion, but feet had a divergent hallux, which relates to climbing trees and holding onto branches (Smiley, Unit 7). Ardi engaged in both bipedalism and arboreal activity, therefore, living in the forests. Ardi’s brain was still small and ate fruits, based on her teeth structure. She still had an projecting muzzle, giving her an ape-like appearance and was about 120 cm tall. Therefore, Ardi had characteristics that were common to both panins and hominins (Smiley, Unit

In this article “A New Kind of Ancestor: Ardipithecus Unveiled”, Ann Gibbon explains the discovery of an international Scientific’s team. This finding is the oldest known human ancestor skeleton and it has 4.4 million years. The Ardipithecus ramidus is the most complete earliest hominin found until now because it has the pelvis, hands, feets and most of the skull and teeth, it is bipedal and its features show a new early hominin, but is still being similar to other species.

Ardipithecus Ramidus was discovered in the 1990’s. It is believed to be one of the earliest of our ancestors discovered yet, dating back to almost 4.4 million years ago. 24 years ago, between 1992-1993 hundreds of fossils were recovered in Ethiopia. According to Dorey (2015) “The finds number over 110 specimens and represent about 35 individual members of this species. Most of the remains are dental, but some skull and limb bones were also found.” “Ardipithecus is a genus of an extinct hominine that lived during Late Miocene and Early Pliocene in Afar Depression, Ethiopia. Originally described as one of the earliest ancestors of humans after they diverged from the main ape lineage, the relation of this genus to human ancestors and whether it is a hominin is now a matter of debate.” (Ardipithecus ramidus 2015)

There are two varieties of evidence as theistic evolutionists present: visual sightings which have sparked hunts all over the world and transitional fossils such as Lucy. Kalevi Kull is particularly taken by these two ‘proofs’ – as she labels them – and, in an article titled Adaptive Evolution without Natural Selection, discusses the strengths of both. The beauty behind her explanation of natural selection as “Evolution of Plasticity” suggests that evolution is easily molded by the surroundings, which would be showcased in the two varieties of evidence. The shortcoming for the first claim is that the supposed visual sightings have never been either confirmed or denied. Blurry photographs and pixelated videos make an interesting case, but there has yet to be one which has been set apart as definitive evidence. As for fossils such as Lucy, which point toward a transitional period between early primates and humans, they are harder to analyze. Again, as Fowler revealed, some believe it could be the missing link while others remain on the fence or deny it altogether. Those steadfast in their faith lean toward the latter option as we will uncover

Aside from the fossil being one of the most complete discovered to date, it also helps to prove to many skeptics that fossil was in fact an ancestor to the modern day humans. Something that many scientist had discovered was that this fossil showed relations to another famous fossil, Taung Child. Mrs. Ples is believed to be a grown up version of its fellow fossil Taung Child. Both fossils have been classified as australopithecus africanus. One of the fascinating arguments that comes from the talks of Mrs. Ples is that some scientists believe that she was actually a he. Some scientists and researchers believe that she was actually a juvenile male due to the size of the hole where the canine tooth would normally be. While this has been widely debated, some researchers have concluded that Broom was right by naming the fossil Mrs rather than Mr. The reason why this debate has been so important is because that the Australopithecus Africanus is one of the species studied that show sexual dimorphism. There are many things that are up for debate when it comes to this fossil, but the one thing that is for sure, is that this fossils discovery holds much importance and helps give researchers a view into the

--Even though fossilization is quite unusual for many species including hominids archaeologists have assembled enough evidence to paint a fairly accurate picture not only of our ancestors, but the ancestors of species of humans who

Lucy is the nickname given to “the world’s most famous human ancestor.” (National Geographic News) Lucy was found on November 24, 1974 in Hardar, Ethiopia by paleontologists Tom Gray and Donald Johanson. While Lucy may not be the earliest human ancestor she is the first Australopithecus afarensis skeleton found, with her remains being 3.2 million years old.

In this lab, section 3EG2 went to the American Museum of Natural History. At the museum, we gained more insight on human evolution, how fossils are dated using multiple techniques, and the evidence from fossils to reconstruct the hominid history. Human evolution states modern humans evolved from primates gradually from generation to generation over the time of millions of years and the H. sapiens (modern humans) are currently the only known descendants of the first known hominid (Lucy). To unmask the mystery surrounding this history, scientist have developed several techniques to estimate the age of fossils and their connection to the evolution. One technique scientists have used to determine the age of fossils is by observing the age of the