ANTHR 101 Lecture Notes - Lecture 13: Oligocene, Bipedalism, Hominidae
Document Summary
Environment is cooling and drying so vegetation is changing and drying out. Africa and south america were much closer together. Rafting hypothesis for primate population of south america. 1st apes in fossil record in east africa. High amount of apes and diversity in size and species. Reduction in the different species of apes and increase in the number of monkey species. As the environment was drying out the lush forests started to diminish, and the monkeys were able to adapt easier so more species survived and radiated. Apes have a long time between children and children stay with parents longer whereas monkeys can reproduce relatively quickly compared to apes. Monkeys were able to leave the forests. R selection: rapid population can explode (rabbits or in order primates: monkeys) 600 lbs standing up to 9 ft tall. Pleistocene (1. 8 mya 10,000 years ago hominins because they became very effective hunters. Antarctic ice caps expand so the environment got cooler and dryer.
