Species Evolution Research Paper

Primates are one of the most interesting mammals on earth, not only because of their complex social structures, but because they hold so many similar characteristics to humans. Primates are often cited as our closest living relatives and on two separate occasions I observed four separate species of primates at the San Diego Zoo that can justify their use of their physical characteristics and behaviors that may be similar as well as different to the other primates and ours.

Megafauna are not direct ancestors of the current animals, rather certain animals both evolved from a common ancestor. An example of this can be seen in

We have always differences and similarities Humans, Bonobos and chimps are close relatives in evolution. Chimps and bonobos can be considered as siblings and humans as their first cousin. We are so similar in many aspects that humans seem to have a very marginal

When researching primates to choose, Bonobo monkeys, caught my interest. Although, I’ve known of their existence for a few years, I never really researched into depth about the species. I chose this species for a few reasons; humankind’s closest living relatives, sharing more than 98% of our DNA, their intelligence, emotional expression, and sensitivity. While reading in chapter seven, I found out ways of categorizing a species as a primate.

The first thing to notice on this evogram is that hippos are the closest living relatives of whales, but they are not the ancestors of whales. In fact, none of the individual animals on the evogram is the direct ancestor of any other, as far as we know. That's why each of them gets its own branch on the family tree.

The complex world of primates revolves around a spectrum of different behaviors and physical features that can be intertwined with their evolutionary history and current ecosystem. Two species of baboons that share a common ancestor dating back twenty million years ago are Papio hamadryas and Theropithecus gelada (Falk, 173). More commonly called as hamadryas baboons and geladas, they are known to share many characteristics because of this common lineage. In fact, they are categorized under the same order of classification, down to the same subfamily of primates, known as cercopithecidae. Despite sharing a common subfamily, these two species of baboons manage to encompass divergent qualities in response to their environment.

Poole, Anthony. "My Name Is LUCA—The Last Universal Common Ancestor." ActionBioscience - Promoting Bioscience Literacy. N.p., 11 Sept. 2014. Web. 01 Dec. 2016. http://www.actionbioscience.org/evolution/poolepaper.html

The species Homo sapiens (human) is compared and contrasted to Pan troglodytes (chimpanzees) by the author. He rapidly clarifies, that several broad areas of research, which suggest that chimps are the closest living relatives to humans. Recently, data has ben obtained from DNA hybridization which suggests that humans, chimpanzees, and gorilla (Gorilla gorilla) are all very closely genetically related. Human DNA and chimpanzee DNA only differs by 1.6%. Gorillas differ another 2.3% from both chimps and humans. Also do gorillas carry a strong implication that the chimps and humans branched off from the rest of the primates at the same time through a common ancestor.

Natural selection is considered one of the most important processes for a variety of species and the environment which allows the fittest organisms to produce offspring. To prevent a species from extinction, it is necessary for them to adapt to the surrounding environment. The species which have the ability to adapt to new surroundings will be able to pass their genes through reproduction. Within the process of natural selection, it is possible for the original genetic make-up of a species to become altered. The team will report on the different processes of basic mechanisms of evolution, how natural selection results in biodiversity and why biodiversity is important to continued evolution. The sources of genetic

Based on this assertion, some scientists have suggested that our common ancestor may have actually been more similar to a

Why are humans the dominant species? Why hasn’t some other species surpassed us in both knowledge and strength? And if we are so “evolved” and “intellectual”, then why haven’t we discovered the answers to so many of these questions? Way back, before humans existed, were apes the dominant species? And even now, might dolphins have some elaborate, underwater plan that we just don’t know about? Why is it taking us so many years to develop cures for cancer, Alzheimer's, and diabetes? Why are we unable to simply come to an agreement over border lines, which seem so insignificant when you think about the number of deaths it

In our everyday lives we do not normally think about where the chicken came from on our sandwich, nor do we think or care about how it once use to be a living and breathing being. This lack of acknowledgement and empathy for other species is called speciesism. The term speciesism is coined by psychologist Richard D. Ryder but it is more associated with philosophers Tom Regan and Peter Singer.

The African wild dogs are members of the Canidae family or “true dogs”. These canines are related to other species including, foxes, wolves, coyotes, domesticated dogs and jackals. In the late Pleistocene Hayonim Cave of Israel, isolated records of Lycaon pictus were found. The Lycaoni record in Africa is poor, but fossil records in South Africa indicate a possibility of this genus occurring as early as the middle Pleistocene (Tedford & Wang, 2008). Below is the full taxonomy for the African wild dog species:

Yes, Nathan I agree with you that we are closely related to chimpanzees and Bonobos in different aspects. For example, we are related to chimpanzees since we can be very aggressive and protective of our things. We can even get to the extreme of killing, and if i'm not mistaken from my readings chimpanzees can also get to the extreme of killing another of their kind. We are also related to Bonobos since we can also be very caring and loving, and have the desire to become parents.

evolution, gradualism, natural selection and common ancestry. Therefore, the first component of the evolutionary theory is the evolution itself which translates to the idea that different species go through genomic variations over time. This means that over a long period of time species can evolve to become very different. However, the modifications are founded on DNA which initiate as mutations. Additionally, the idea of gradualism under the evolutionary theory refers to the concept that it actually takes very many generations for the significant evolutionary variation to be realized an example being that of birds having been reptiles before evolution.