Museum Reflection Paper

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When I went to the Smithsonian Human Origins Exhibit, it made me realize how much more I am informed about human evolution compared to most of the people at the exhibit. One thing was I saw on one the displays that Neanderthals were classified as part of the Homo sapiens lineage, which is not true. During our lecture you already told us that Neanderthals are not part of the lineage. Neanderthals are consider more like sisters than one of us. Also one of the speakers was saying how Homo heidelbergensis were 99.9% closely related to us, which is also false.
When I first got into the museum the first thing I saw was Lucy, and I had to take a picture of her because she was found in Ethiopia; which is my culture. In the museum it’s said to be the best-known earliest human species, which is now not true because of Sahelanthropus tchadensis. I’m pretty sure they know this they just don’t update their information. So Lucy is Australopithecus afarensis which is 3.85 million years old, they were found in 3 different places in East Africa; Ethiopia, Kenya, and Tanzania. One of the cool things about Australopithecus afarensis is that they grow from
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It allows her to climb trees and also walks on grounds, her flexibility was used to her advantage in order to survive in the various environment. Her apelike arm, help her be able to climb trees with her powerful chest and arm muscle. Humanlike hips, her pelvis is short and broad allowing her to walk bipedal; compared to a chimpanzees whose are tall and narrow. Grasping fingers, Lucy’s hands are long and more curved compared to humans in order to get a stronger grip on branches. Angled knees, her thigh bones angle towards the center; it’s showing that she walks bipedal. Flexible feet, it supports Lucy’s weight while walking as wells as her feet more curved allowing her to

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