One compelling piece of evidence for human evolution is the fossil record, particularly the discovery of transitional fossils like Australopithecus afarensis. Lucy, discovered in 1974, provides an essential link between us humans today and our ape - like ancestors. Her head skeleton, especially the pelvis and leg bones, indicates that she walked upright, a key trait distinguishing early hominins from other primates. This evidence is compelling because it directly shows us physical adaptations in ancient species from millions of years ago that align with the evolutionary theory of bipedalism. Supporting this theory the gradual changes observed in the fossil record, from ape- like traits to more human-like features, offer concrete, sequentially proof of how humans have evolved over the years.

Humans are the only living primates which are primarily bipedal, list possible explanations of why humans became bipedal. How was bipedalism related to the evolutionary needs to survive and reproduce? Which of these explanations (if any) makes the most sense to you?

The ancestors of extant tetrapods first evolved the ability to live out of water over 350 million years ago. Which of the following had to have been true for natural selection to have favored the original evolution of limbs? A) Closely related lineages that remained in the ocean must have gone extinct. There must have been differences in survival and or/reproduction based on size, musculature, bones or other (B functional aspects of early limbs. Large predators must have been a major source of mortality for populations that spent more time in the water and less on land. The ability of some ancestral fish-tetrapod transitional forms to move from one body of water to another during D droughts must have led to decreased mortality. E There must have been less competition for food on land.

Evidence for biocultural evolution during the Upper Pleistocene may exist in the form of craniofacial morphological differences between premodern humans and modern humans because, as one interpretation mentioned in your text suggests… Group of answer choices deep concentration on the creation of cave art murals resulted in the selection for more gracile craniofacial morphology in modern humans hunter gatherers used landscape surveying methods to hunt and gather resources, a practice that required long periods of squinting resulting in supraorbital browridge muscle robusticity frequent spiritual rituals focused around chanting practices resulted in enlarged craniofacial muscle attachments basket weaving techniques required the use of the teeth as a clamp to temporarily hold the sinew technological innovations assisting with food processing resulted in anatomically modern humans not needing large teeth and facial muscles to chew and process their foods

What are hominins? From the perspective of paleoanthropology, what are the main ways that hominins differ from our closest primate relatives the apes? What key physical features help anthropologists identify whether or...

Other than larger brain / greater intelligence,  which single behavioral or biological innovation / adaptation unique to the genus Homo (bipedalism, thumbs etc are NOT unique to Homo) do you think furthest propelled the genus Homo evolutionarily, and why?

Working as an Anthropologist in South Africa, you’ve been given four hominin craniums and are asked to develop a new classification system. Using cranium size, the robustness of the cheek bones and brow ridges, and the prognathism of the face, how would you categorize these four skulls into species? Would you categorize all four of them as belonging to the same genus? Two geneses? Three geneses? Four geneses? Do you believe any of them are the same species? Explain how you would categorize these four specimens. Explain what features you used to categorize these specimens. This is the image of the 4 different hominin individuals

If phenotype is a proxy for genotype, then why do you think that paleoanthropologists erroneously designated Neandertalensis as a separate species prior to the accessibility of DNA analysis?  What were they comparing them to when they were lumping or splitting fossils taxonomically and why would these reference populations provide the bias resulting in such a confounding factor in their assessments?

Radiometric dating and the cranial capacity measurements are back from the paleolab for the specimen you discovered at the site you were excavating in South Africa.  Lab results indicate that the cranial capacity is 520 cubic centimeters and it dates to about 1.5 million years ago.  After having identified the cranial traits present, you can now take this new information and provide, at least, the genus to which you think it may belong. Based on this information, choose from the options below, the category to which you think it most likely belongs.   -Pre-australopith -Premodern Human -Gracile Australopithecine -Early Genus Homo -Robust Australopithecine -Late Genus Homo

What are the potential implications of the H. luzonensis and H. floresiensis discoveries on our understanding of the human evolutionary timeline and interactions between different hominin species? (Minimum of 2 complete sentences.)