ANTH100 Lecture 4: Human Evolution

• School: University of Waterloo
• Department: Anthropology
• Course: ANTH100
• Professor: Gotz Hoeppe

Document Summary

The first mammals appeared over 200 mya and were small nocturnal creatures. Since that time, the positions of the earth"s landmasses have changed dramatically. The mass extinction of the dinosaurs about 65 mya allowed for an adaptive radiation of mammals that ultimately included the origins of the primates. Old world and new world primate species separated by about 40 my, and hominoids, the broad-shouldered tailless primates that include all living and extinct apes and humans, began to appear about 23 mya, throughout asia, africa, and europe. Genetic studies have confirmed that the african apes chimpanzees, bonobos, and gorillas are our closest living relatives. Bipedal locomotion and larger brains constitute the most striking differences between humans and our closest primate relatives. Bipedalism preceded brain expansion by several million years and appeared sometimes between 5 and 8 mya. Skeletal changes from the skull down to the toes accompany bipedalism. The forest-dwelling ardipithecines seem to be the earliest definite biped.