Ardipithecus Research Paper

My hypothesis is was not supported since there was not a single organism that walked on four legs according to my data. I realized that just the general shape and condition of the skull didn’t correlate with how old it was, but the cranial capacity was the major determining factor. Every time humans evolved the need for their mental capacity increased and that’s evident in the skulls: the oldest having the smallest cranial capacity, the most recent having the largest cranial capacity. I also want to say that according to my data, our ancestors didn’t all just start walking on two legs one day, but the need to walk on two legs wasn’t there for a couple of our ancestors which is why some are so close to not being able to walk on two legs at all. That leads me to say that bipedalism was not dependant on when an organism was alive but where an organism was alive. As for prognathism, I also believe that

‘Lucy’ was exposed by Donald Johanson, an anthropologist, with his team, went to survey Hadar in Ethiopia during the late 1970s for signs in understanding Human origins. On November 24, 1974 by the Awash River, Donald’s’ plan for the day was to update his notes but decided otherwise when one of his students, Tom Gray, joined him to find fossil bones. Both of them were on the hot waterless plains examining the sandy terrain when a fossil was spotted; it turned out to be an arm bone fragments on a slope. As they looked closer, more and more bones were found, including a jaw, arm bone, a thighbone, ribs, and vertebrae. Donald and Tom had cautiously examined the limited skeleton and calculated that a remarkable 40% of a hominid skeleton was salvaged,

She is considered a principle candidate as one of our ancestors. Another find, even older than Lucy, was a 4.4 million year old female Ardipithecus ramidus, nicknamed Ardi who was found in 1994 (Fossil discovery confirms “Lucy” walked upright). Ida, Lucy and Ardi are all significant links in understanding evolution.

2) Lucy is a collection of fossils from an early hominid species that is over 3 million years old. Lucy's fossils were discovered in Ethiopia, and Lucy was also very short compared to the average modern

Despite her short stature and hirsute frame, Lucy the Australopithecus afarensis, whose discovery is today commemorated with a Google Doodle, was from a species that could be a forerunner to modern humans.

Argyria is a condition that is from persistent contact or inhalation of silver salts (Padlewska, n.d.) It is characterized by having gray or blue staining of the skin. Some signs and symptoms of the this condition are before the body turns to a grey color, it gives off a warning by the body digesting the silver through urine, sweat, and through nails and hair (Group, 2014). The disorder is diagnosed by doing a skin biopsy which takes a piece of skin and is sent to an expert who will study it and diagnose the disorder (Ngan, n.d.). While steps can be taken to reduce the effects of this, no cures exist, but it is said that taking Vitamins A, E, and C reduce the color effects. These

Ardipithecus and other early Australopithecines lived in a habitat much wetter than the environment of Aramis, Ethiopia today. The set for scene one could at times experience a “rain fall,” and should include a woodland habitat with patches of denser forest and an abundant amount of monkeys just as what would have been seen between five and three million years ago. In 1992, an expedition led by Tim White of the University of California, Berkeley discovered the fossil of Ardipithecus ramidus, dating back to 4.4 million years ago. The skeleton nicknamed “Ardi” ended up weighing around 112 pounds, stood almost four feet tall, (somewhat larger than a male chimpanzee but smaller than a female gorilla) and was most likely a female. Ardi’s ape sized brain has a cranial capacity of only 300 to 350 CC.

The significance of finding these traits primitive in nature compared to the apes is that it shows how these are specialisations for apes to better access their terrestrial and tree dwelling environments. It also indicates that hominids did not develop these traits and therefore developed a less specialised grasping hand (Lovejoy et al., 2009a). Further evidence to support the hypothesis that Ardipithecus ramidus were both bipedal for tree dwelling life and land living is in the wrist bones. The bones were less fixed with the joints providing mobility to the hand. The most significant feature is the midcarpal joint, which shows increased flexibility that would allow Ardipithecus ramidus the ability to bear its body weight solely on it’s hands whilst moving throughout trees (Lovejoy et al., 2009a). The length of the upper limbs overall would have been difficult to support vertical climbs and aid in reaching longer distances between trees commonly found in arboreal settings (Sarmiento et al., 2011)

The Australopithecine are some of the earliest known hominids and they embody many characteristics that are associated with bipedalism. Bipedalism is a highly specialized and unusual form of primate locomotion that sets modern humans apart from all other living primates as we are the only extant obligate bipeds. Many evolutionary biologists and paleoanthropologists have devoted innumerable research hours to attempting to understand this unique form of locomotion and how it evolved. A number of interdependent morphological adaptations occurred over a long period of time to solve challenges posed by habitual bipedalism. As a result, there are obvious differences that exist between early and late hominin species.

In the 1500’s in Peru, there was a king named Huayna (Wayna) Capac, the third Sapa Inca ruler, the sixth of the Hanan dynasty, and the eleventh ruler of the Inca civilization. He appointed on of his sons to rule after he died, but as Huayna died of small pox in 1528, so did his elected son, Ninan Cuyuchi. Due to this sudden lack of leadership two of his other sons jumped into action to claim the throne. One, the favored son, Atahualpa ruled in the north, and his older half brother, Huascar, ruled in the south until it came to a full on civil war that lasted six years. In the end Atahualpa won the war and killed his half brother, his family, historians, and destroyed the Incan Quipu records. This was all done to create a sense of total renewal, and was called Pachakuti (turning over of time and space).

First, evidence from the hominid fossil Ardy and archaeological evidence from the same area where Ardy was found points to the evolution of bipedalism in a woodland environment. This goes against the previous assumption that bipeds adapted to a more desolate environment. Additionally, it was also previously believed that bipedalism started with organisms that walked on two legs and their knuckles as a today’s chimp walk. However, there is no evidence in Ardy’s bones that it ever walked using its knuckles. On the other hand, Ardy possesses a short, broad hipbone which allows for bipedalism, but also a much longer lower half of the pelvis which would be more useful for climbing. Consequently, while Ardy could walk on two legs, it could not walk as well as future bipeds such as the fossil Lucy or modern humans. Lucy is often described as “the ape who stood up” and is further down the evolutionary track toward modern humans. This evolutionary adaptation to stand and walk on two legs opened great doors for humankind. Most important was the fact that walking on two limbs rather than four freed up our very special hands and empowered humankind to build tools and reshape the world as no creature could

Approximately 4 million years ago a wonderful evolutionary phenomenon was happening in Africa. Early hominids, man’s ancestors, were beginning a giant leap in their evolution. These hominids were moving out of the forest and beginning to walk upright, out on the open plains (Fagan, 98). This change from quadrupedalism was the most significant adaptation that ever happened to these early hominids. It caused many adaptations that make man what he is today. This process occurred in early hominids for many different reasons, each reason helping to perfect the upright walking posture. Bipedalism is thought to have occurred because of changes in environment, feeding habits, thermal regulation, and

After reviewing the evidence, I believe that Dr. Donald Johanson is correct in his theory that Lucy is the missing link between ape and man. The anatomy of Lucy supports Johanson’s claim. The knee joint of Lucy had an outward slanting angle away from the knee just like humans. Lucy reconstructed pelvis with its short and curved ilium indicates bipedal human qualities. Unlike the Piltdown man, Lucy stood the test of time, Johanson’s fossils through potassium argon dating was found to be at least 3-million-years-old proving the integrity of Johanson’s find. Similar archeological finds also validate Lucy. The 1976 Laetoli footprints support the theory that there were hominids walking upright during the time of Lucy. In 1924, Raymond discovered the Tuang child in South Africa, it displays similar qualities of Lucy, small brain and bipedal abilities. Additional finds by Robert Broom, Richard Leakey, and many other creditable paleoanthropologists further prove Johanson correct.

There has been much debate concerning the origins of bipedalism. Bipedalism, or the ability to move on two legs (eLucy, 2007) was said to have emerged due to climate change in East Africa, for sexual display purpose, to reduce exposure to sunlight, the need to use weapons and tools and many more (NOVA, 2013). There are numerous arguments associated with bipedalism as no one can be entirely sure as to what constituted to the emergence of this trait, which was first present in hominins Australopithecus Afarensis. Anthropologists claim that there is a missing link in the evolutionary lineage that makes it hard to confirm the real cause of bipedalism emergence. However, there are some models which are widely accepted by scientific world, such

We share almost 99 percent of our genetic material with chimpanzees. Yet we have several traits that are very different. Two legged walking, or bipedalism seems to be one of the earliest of the major hominine characteristics to have evolved. To