ANTH 1150 Chapter Notes - Chapter 3: Thumb, Hominidae, Ape

• School: University of Guelph
• Department: Anthropology
• Course: ANTH 1150
• Professor: Victor Gulewitsch

Document Summary

Primate order: the group of mammals that includes lemurs, lorises, tarsiers, monkeys, apes, and humans. Evolution through adaption: natural selection: the evolutionary mechanism by which individuals best suited to a particular environment survive and reproduce with greater frequency than those without them. Sense of smell declined, sight became more highly developed. Developed stereoscopic colour vision that is, that ability to see the world in three dimensions of height, width, and depth. The cerebral hemispheres (the area of conscious thought) have grown dramatically. A downwards shift in the spine from head to heel enables the backbone to join the skull at the centre of it"s (cid:271)ase, (cid:449)hi(cid:272)h is a (cid:373)ore ad(cid:448)a(cid:374)tageous arra(cid:374)ge(cid:373)e(cid:374)t for upright posture. The hands and feet have 5 extremely flexible digits. Adaptation through behaviour: chimpanzee behaviour: to avoid friction, chimpanzees practise affiliative behaviour. Chimpanzees show a remarkable dependence on learned cultural behaviour. Paleoanthropology: the study of extinct members of the genus homo sapiens.