Exam 2 - Spring 2017
ANTH-1020
Madison Lara
Chapter 5 - Process of Macroevolution #4 on Page 119Humans are fairly generalized mammals. What is meant by this? Discuss specific features (characters) to illustrate this statement?
Humans have only been able to thrive as much as we have because of our generalization. Specialized species do very well in specific environments but that means that those species depend on a static environment, they cannot be expected to be able to cope with changes in to their habitat and keep on as they were. If changes were to happen they would have to happen over millions of years for specialized species to be able to adapt in time to survive.
You can see this happening with climate change today, they say we …show more content…
By comparing you can observe the characteristics that are specific to an organism and determine what specific selective pressures influenced changes. We can assess the traits specific to primates first (things like prehensile hands/feet, the structure of our shoulder and hips, our relative brain size, the presence of at least one fingernail, etc.) and then assess the differences further to classify species from the order of primates.
One way we learned to distinguish was by looking at the skulls of different primates. In class we examined several primate skulls, looking at what was similar and what was different among the different species of primates. We observed a few defining traits that varied among the skulls, the dental formula which varied among old and new world primates depending on the presence of the 2123 or 2133 formula, the size of the auditory bullae which differs in nocturnal and diurnal primates, the postorbital plates and bars to indicate vision as a primary …show more content…
Because we have language, writing, and other symbolic nonverbal communication, we have been able to develop and preserve culture across many generations. Other non-human animals have not been able to develop culture because they cannot pass what they have learned on to future generations. Only by documenting something can it be ensured to last beyond a single generation.
There is evidence for culture among non-human primates though. Young non-human primates learn from their tribes by watching them, like a chimpanzee learning to use a stick to fish for termites, or an orangutan learning to build a nest from its mother, who learned it from her mother, or the vervets who have established a series of calls assigned to specific threats. All of these behaviors have been consider evidence of culture in non-human primates. Despite symbolic language these traditions have persisted and I would accept that as evidence of culture.
Although, they have persisted as long as they have, there is still a possibility that the behaviors they have fostered will not be passed on to a generation. With no symbolic language, and without the ability to communicate about the abstract, these cultural traditions can be lost with a single
ANTH-1020
Madison Lara
Chapter 5 - Process of Macroevolution #4 on Page 119Humans are fairly generalized mammals. What is meant by this? Discuss specific features (characters) to illustrate this statement?
Humans have only been able to thrive as much as we have because of our generalization. Specialized species do very well in specific environments but that means that those species depend on a static environment, they cannot be expected to be able to cope with changes in to their habitat and keep on as they were. If changes were to happen they would have to happen over millions of years for specialized species to be able to adapt in time to survive.
You can see this happening with climate change today, they say we …show more content…
By comparing you can observe the characteristics that are specific to an organism and determine what specific selective pressures influenced changes. We can assess the traits specific to primates first (things like prehensile hands/feet, the structure of our shoulder and hips, our relative brain size, the presence of at least one fingernail, etc.) and then assess the differences further to classify species from the order of primates.
One way we learned to distinguish was by looking at the skulls of different primates. In class we examined several primate skulls, looking at what was similar and what was different among the different species of primates. We observed a few defining traits that varied among the skulls, the dental formula which varied among old and new world primates depending on the presence of the 2123 or 2133 formula, the size of the auditory bullae which differs in nocturnal and diurnal primates, the postorbital plates and bars to indicate vision as a primary …show more content…
Because we have language, writing, and other symbolic nonverbal communication, we have been able to develop and preserve culture across many generations. Other non-human animals have not been able to develop culture because they cannot pass what they have learned on to future generations. Only by documenting something can it be ensured to last beyond a single generation.
There is evidence for culture among non-human primates though. Young non-human primates learn from their tribes by watching them, like a chimpanzee learning to use a stick to fish for termites, or an orangutan learning to build a nest from its mother, who learned it from her mother, or the vervets who have established a series of calls assigned to specific threats. All of these behaviors have been consider evidence of culture in non-human primates. Despite symbolic language these traditions have persisted and I would accept that as evidence of culture.
Although, they have persisted as long as they have, there is still a possibility that the behaviors they have fostered will not be passed on to a generation. With no symbolic language, and without the ability to communicate about the abstract, these cultural traditions can be lost with a single