AN101 Chapter Notes - Chapter 3: Acheulean, Upper Paleolithic, Hadza People
Document Summary
An101 textbook chapter 3: the beginnings of human. Primate order: the group of mammals that includes lemurs, lorises, tarsiers, monkeys, apes, and humans. Adaptation: a process that organisms undergo to achieve a beneficial adjustment to an available environment, plus the results of that process: anatomical adaptation, primate dentition. Diet available to arboreal primates requires unspecialized teeth. Over time, there is a trend toward economy, with fewer and smaller teeth doing more work. Number of cusps on molars increases: sense organs. Decreased dependency on a sense of smell. Corresponding increase in brain size in the visual area. More acute sense of touch: the primate brain. Opening of the skull for the spinal cord shifts forward toward the skull"s base, accommodating upright posture. Arms at side rather than the front part of the body. More flexible digits in hands and feet. Retention of the primate prehensile hand with: adaptation through behaviour opposable thumb.
