ANTHROP 1AA3 Lecture Notes - Lecture 4: Thumb, Brachiation, Depth Perception
17 Dec 2018
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Studied by experts from various scientific disciplines. Physical sciences, biological sciences and social sciences. Commonalities among primates: limbs and locomotion, dentition, senses and the brain, development, origins from arboreal life. Nail instead of claws (except some new world monkeys) Tactile pads with nerves at ends of fingers to enhance touch sense. Primates moved from eating insects to more fruits and vegetables to becoming omnivorous. Adaptation of teeth is probably caused by natural selection so that the kinds of teeth best able to accomodate a particular diet becomes enhanced over time. Stereoscopic vision: allows to see in three dimensions. Binocular vision: both eyes set toward front of the head. The disagreement regarding the numbers of different species ie. the genus australopithecus. Market value in splitting- naming a new species can result in profit. Evidence lies in analyses of fossils of hominid/hominin ancestors (bipedal ancestors of humans) who lived in east and south africa.
