ANTHROP 1AA3 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Donald Johanson, Foramen Magnum, Australopithecine
28 Mar 2016
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Document Summary
There are approximately 190 species of non-human primates. Primates can"t be easily deined by a few traits: Knuckle walking: deniion, senses and the brain, development, origins from arboreal life. Five digits on hand and feet, but some show diminished thumb and second inger. Parially opposable thumb and most have fully divergent, partly opposable big toe. Nail instead of claws (except some new world monkeys) Tacical pads with nerves at ends of ingers to enhance touch sense. Color vision all diurnal have it, nocturnal don"t. Stereoscopic vision allows to see in three dimensions. Binocular vision- both eyes set towards front of head. Decreased reliance on the sense of smell (olfacion) reducion in sensory areas of brain and in snout. Expansion and increasing complexity of brain-visual areas and areas having to do with hands (humans especially!) More eicient fetal nourishment, longer periods of gestaion, smaller numbers of ofspring (a single birth norm), delayed maturaion, extension of whole life span.
