BIOLOGY 1M03 Lecture Notes - Lecture 16: Global Cooling, Spoken Language, Paranthropus
14 Mar 2017
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Adaptations for suspensory locomotion: short trunk and legs, hook-like fingers. Why didn"t bipedalism evolve more frequently in other lineages: perhaps, suspensory locomotion pre-disposes the ape lineages to evolve bipedalism. How are humans different from other apes: fully bipedal, thick molar enamel. Long juvenile period: flattened, flared pelvis, spoken language; symbolic culture, ancestral hominins shared some of the features of humans and some features of the. Late miocene/pliocene primates: global cooling = decreased rainfall and seasonality (including dry seasons, grassland habitat expanded and hominins preferred living there. Chimp-human splitting: the most recent common ancestor lived about 5-7 mya, 3 fossils have have illuminated what this ancestor was like, they had a mixture of primitive features (ape-sized brains) and derived features (shorter arms, upright posture, etc. ) Hominins (4-6mya): ancestral features, small molars, thin enamel. Large brow ridge: small braincase, derived features, flattening of the face, small canine teeth.
