Science Assignment: Hominidae Family

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.

What evidence shows the changing from the early hominids to the modern humans? Throughout the human evolution body parts like legs and harms have changed for the better. By the early hominids being biped, meaning they are able to stand and even walk on two feet, it helped them to be able to do more things like getting around more and help with their tool making and hunting. A lot of the fossils discovered were found in the Great Rift Valley in East Africa, which contained many different lakes and small rivers. For many years researchers have been finding new species. These species have been named Australopithicus, robust australopithecines , Orrorin tugenensis, Homo habilis, Homo erectus, neanderthal, and Homo sapiens. These early

Other than this remarkable jump, the physical features stayed relatively constant over those 1.4 million years(Washburn, McCown 1972). Some anthropologists say that their supra-orbital ridges were slightly more pronounced than previously, cranial bones were heavier and there was still no protruding chin but their molars had decreased in size (Washburn, McCown 1972).

Hominids are ancestors of humans who are primates. Primates are known to have grasping feet and hands, fingernails instead of claws, fingerprints, forward facing eyes, and are known to be smarter than other animals. Out of all the primates, chimpanzees are the closest to humans. Ninety-nine percent of human genetics match chimpanzee genetics. Ever since humans started to evolve, they started to develop distinct features that are different from these primates, which was called divergent evolution. For example, humans are bipedal, while most primates are quadrupeds. As time went on, they evolved to the present-time humans the world has today. But what happens next? Because you can’t accurately predict the far future, people like scientists can only predict how humans are going to change and

Despite the evolutionary many benefits and gradient expenses with human intelligence, increased brain size did not occur because it was able to expand by itself. Environmental factors are what led to the evolutionary changes. A fundamental principle of evolutionary theory is that evolution is the balanced outcome between costs and benefits. Since the price of maintaining a large brain is greater, it is inherently improbably that expansion of the brain will evolve without a selection factor being adequate to overcome the high expenses. (Dunbar, 2007) There has been a strong correlation between increased temperatures in the global climate and increased endocranial volume. Over the past three million years, the average global temperature has been steadily increasing, as well as the braincase of human ancestors. Strong evidence of this is seen between the period approximately 200,000 to 800,000 years ago where the Earth’s climate experienced the greatest temperature fluctuations which

The Strepsirrhini group are “more primitive than other primates such as monkeys and apes.” (3). Lemurs have olfactory communication, have stink and spur fights. Lorises are known for their “nocturnal behavior and are extremely slow in locomotion”. (3). Galago’s also called bush babies because their calls sound similar to an infant, they can jump about 8 feet from a sitting position and have very strong eyesight.

Primates come from the order of mammals and are defined based on the morphology of the group of animals. Morphology is the branch of biology that concerns the study of the structures and forms of various organisms based on their structural features. The study involves both the internal and external primary functions of the structures of an organism including the parts. According to the identification of primate’s family they are divided based on the generalized and the specialized features of the organisms (Russell 2015). The generalized features of the organisms are the common traits that identify the organisms to the specific family of primates. These are the characteristics that the entire organism that is considered to be primates possess

Primates are considered to be the closest relative to humans and are often classified together under the Hominidae family. It was thought that humans were the superior group because they were able to make and use tools but it was discovered by Jane Goodall that Primates are able to make and use tools as well. Within the subject of primatology, we will be looking the different techniques used during primate toolmaking and some of the uses for the tools made by primates. We will also be looking at three different research studies focusing on mandrills, chimpanzees and capuchins which will give us a better understanding of how primates make tools. By studying this, we can learn about our close ancestors and how they are able to create and use

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,

Despite this, they were very similar to ours. Endocasts from Neanderthal skulls have shown very similar frontal lobes, so much so that it’s difficult to tell the different between a Neanderthal and modern Homo sapiens one. 3-D images of a Neanderthal skull is low and elongated, unlike our which is dome-like. This could possibly show the shape of the brain. Also, some parts of the Neanderthal brains were smaller than ours, such as the parietal and temporal lobes, which could have an impact on their cognition, especially regarding language, memory, and spatial

The earliest organisms that are related to humans is a hominid, a humanlike creature that walked upright. These creatures lived in eastern and southern Africa. Father down the line, society started to develop within the hominids. These ages are called the Paleolithic and the Neolithic Age. The humans in these periods started to make a name for themselves, developed new technology, and created civilizations.

       Overtime, the size of the cranium has changed. With that being the case, the size of the cranium changed due to the better nutrition received. On a different note, the width of the pelvis changed. Thus, the width of the pelvis changed due to a genus homo's bipedality. Therefore, a genus homo's bipedality determines their ability to walk, run, and create tools in oder to survive.

An Oxford University research team looked at how 500 species, both living and fossilized, have evolved over about 60 million years. The ones that lived in social groups had much larger brains, relative to body size, than those species that tend to be self-sufficient.

Hominids with a brain absolutely and relatively larger than that of the australopithecines appeared about 2.3 million years ago. These hominids are classified in our own genus: Homo. The earliest species to appear was the Homo Habilis. It was the first of our ancestors to show a significant increase in brain size and also the first to be found associated with stone tools. These characteristics resulted in this species’ placement into the human genus, Homo.

Human evolution according to research started over 6 million years ago. The outcome of the evolution process is the current human beings. Scientific studies have revealed over the years a remarkable affinity between the chimpanzees/Apes and human beings. Even though this reality is not a definitive prove that human beings evolved from apes, it does show that the human beings are in one way or another related to other primates. Scientists suppose that the humans and the primates shared a common ancestor. The subject of what makes humans what they are and their origin has been the exclusive purpose leading to many scientific studies globally (Coolidge & Wynn, 2011). Studies believe that Africa was the origin of evolution millions of years ago. Fossil remains have been discovered in different parts of Africa as well as other regions of the world. Different hominins have been discovered around the world in the last 1 million years. Thus, the different discoveries have led to comparisons between the various species of hominins to clarify on their similarities as well as differences. This essay seeks to explain whether they were distinctively different species or regional versions of the same species.