ENV100Y5 Lecture Notes - Lecture 20: Hyoid Bone, Quadrupedalism, Brain Size

• School: UTM
• Department: Environment
• Course: ENV100Y5
• Professor: Monika Havelka

Document Summary

What separates us from the chimps? are larger in chimps. Brain size; we have a much larger brain. In the facial features, the jaw and teeth. Speech; the ability to make speech is limited to humans. Primates (chimps) cannot speak but they can make noises and use sign language. Changes in the hyoid bone & larynx. Adaptive pressure to move from gestures -> speech. Humans have a voice box, unlike the chimps: bipedalism; chimps are quadrupedal (not always); sometimes they can stand on two legs, but the most common way they"ll move around is through fist walking. Better field of view; easier to see over tall grass and keep social contact; this is efficient gait for crossing open spaces. Humans are not descendants of chimps, rather they"re like our cousins, but not our ancestors. Observation: humans look like juvenile apes, not adults. Neoteny; retention of juvenile features; it"s a process whereby the characteristics of that population is more juvenile (babyish)