Concept explainers
To hypothesize:
The coexistence of H. floresiensis with modern humans.
Introduction:
Australopithecines are the hominins that lived in in east- central and southern part of Africa between 4.2 and 1 mya and had apelike brains and jaws. While the African environment became cooler between 3 and 2.5 mya and the forests decreased in size, the genus Homo started to appear. Many scientists believe that they evolved from an ancestor of australopithecines.
Answer to Problem 38A
H. floresiensis and H. sapiens are quite different species. If they coexisted, modern man would have used them because they would consider themselves to be superior to H. floresiensis.
Explanation of Solution
Homo species had bigger brains, lighter skeletons, flatter faces, and smaller teeth than their australopithecine ancestors. The first member of the genus Homo is Homo habilis . Other Homo species might have coexisted with H. habilis such as Homorudolfensis. Later other Homo species like Homoergaster emerged . These were the first ones to migrate to Asia and Europe. The Eurasian forms of Homoergaster are called Homo erectus .
Homo erectus went extinct about 400,000 years ago. A curious set of fossils were discovered in 2004 on the Indonesian island of Flores that suggest that descendants of Homo erectus or some other hominin species remained on Earth until 12,000 years ago. These fossils which are 18,000 years old represent a species called H. floresiensis, nicknamed “The Hobbit”. They had brain and body proportions like all the australopithecines but were only 1m tall when full grown.
Although modern humans ( H. sapiens) and H. floresiensis are quite different in their skull size and body structure, they could have coexisted. Since H. floresiensisbecame extinct before H. sapiens arrived, it is difficult to hypothesize their coexistence. However if they coexisted they would have been used by modern humans due to their small brain size and body structure.
Chapter 16 Solutions
Biology Illinois Edition (Glencoe Science)
Additional Science Textbook Solutions
Campbell Essential Biology with Physiology (6th Edition)
Becker's World of the Cell (9th Edition)
Anatomy & Physiology (6th Edition)
Campbell Essential Biology (6th Edition) - standalone book
Human Biology: Concepts and Current Issues (8th Edition)
Concepts of Genetics (12th Edition)
- Human Anatomy & Physiology (11th Edition)BiologyISBN:9780134580999Author:Elaine N. Marieb, Katja N. HoehnPublisher:PEARSONBiology 2eBiologyISBN:9781947172517Author:Matthew Douglas, Jung Choi, Mary Ann ClarkPublisher:OpenStaxAnatomy & PhysiologyBiologyISBN:9781259398629Author:McKinley, Michael P., O'loughlin, Valerie Dean, Bidle, Theresa StouterPublisher:Mcgraw Hill Education,
- Molecular Biology of the Cell (Sixth Edition)BiologyISBN:9780815344322Author:Bruce Alberts, Alexander D. Johnson, Julian Lewis, David Morgan, Martin Raff, Keith Roberts, Peter WalterPublisher:W. W. Norton & CompanyLaboratory Manual For Human Anatomy & PhysiologyBiologyISBN:9781260159363Author:Martin, Terry R., Prentice-craver, CynthiaPublisher:McGraw-Hill Publishing Co.Inquiry Into Life (16th Edition)BiologyISBN:9781260231700Author:Sylvia S. Mader, Michael WindelspechtPublisher:McGraw Hill Education