Museum of man- primates - Assignment Example

AREA ONE: PRIMATES a) (b) (c) 2 It is the notharctine primate referred to as, Hesperolemur actius and it was wiped out towards the end of the Middle Eocene (47.8 million to 38 million years ago).3. (a) The Old World MonkeyThe large eyes that face forward on its skull suggest that it was a predator. Big forward-facing eyes allow for stereoscopic or binocular vision, which permits an animal to perceive and judge depth. Primates as predators needed this depth perception in order to track and pursue their prey.(b)The lack of peripheral vision hinders the animal from seeing approaching predators from the sides and behind.

Vision is vital in protecting an animal when in the process of feeding and grazing. AREA 2: EARLY HOMINIDS1. (a)Australopithecus anamensisAustralopithecus afarensisAustralopithecus africanus(b)Homo habilisHomo erectusHomo ergasterAustralopithecus boisei / Paranthropus boiseiAustralopithecus robustus/ Paranthropus robustusHomo rudolfensis(c)Homo heidelbergensisParanthropus robustusHomo erectus(d)Homo neanderthalensisHomo sapiens2Lucy was an Australopithecus afarensisShe is vital in the comprehension of human evolution because it was a complete fossil in the species of Australopithecus afarensis.

Hence, it justifies the theory of evolution extensively. 3The existence of the ridge in a mammal depicts that the organism has exceptionally strong muscles of the jaw. It is important as it provides as surface on which temporalis muscles attach. Gorilla Skull Australopithecus (Paranthropus) SkullSagittal crest refers to a ridge of the bone that runs lengthwise alongside the midline of the top section of the skull of many mammalian skulls. Chimpanzee and Paranthropus had strong jaws sizes that were relatively similar in size.

However, differences existed in the structuring of the cranium and dentition. The cranium of the Paranthropus was relatively higher as compared to the one for chimpanzees. The Paranthropus had enormously large back molar teeth. It had the biggest and the flattest teeth with the thickest enamel. The front teeth of Paranthropus were relatively smaller. On the other hand, the cranium of a Chimpanzee is not as high as the one for Paranthropus. Its enamel was less thick than for the Paranthropus species.

While, the size of the front teeth of chimpanzee was bigger than the ones for Paranthropus, the sizes of the jaws and the molar back teeth were relatively equal in size. 4. (a)Homo sapiens(b)Homo erectus (c)Homo neanderthalensisAREA 3: THE GENUS HOMO1The first hominid to live in Africa was Australopithecus africanus. It has not been discovered in other places apart from Africa. 2The Neanderthal and the sapiens skeleton differ in specific ways. They differ in height, stature, shape of the chest and the pelvis.

The Neanderthal skeleton is shorter that the sapiens skeleton which is relatively taller. Secondly, the skeleton of the Neanderthal has a stocky stature that was not as upright as for the modern man. The sapiens had an upright posture. Additionally, the Neanderthal had a funnel-shaped and flaring chest. On the other hand, the chest of sapiens was fairly uniform and was not so wide in breath. The pelvis of the Neanderthal was also flaring, a characteristic that lacked in the sapiens’ pelvis.

3It can be learned from the Neanderthal’s burial that they believed in life after death, and they also valued the dead. The presence of grave goods such as the bones, bison, aurochs, pigment ochre and tools justifies this fact. The Neanderthal man was the predecessor of the sapiens. They had emotions. Therefore, they practiced love. They also lived in nuclear families. It means that they valued togetherness and the well-being of their people. They used traditional medication whenever one of them was sick as evidenced by the six flower pollens obtained from Shanidar IV.

4Cro-Magnon is the Homo sapiens. They developed a range of sounds that conformed to the modern language. They developed coherent speech that all the other hominids had not developed. 5The images found in the caves were for stick human beings, wild animals that the early man haunted, outlines of the hands. Man believed that the paintings of the large wild animals such as deer and aurochs would give them good luck during hunting. Paintings of stick human beings pointing the sky was also an evidence of recognition of the gods.

6The three vital breakthroughs were the invention of fire, the discovery of clothing and the development of language. The invention of fire enables modern man to generate heat energy that they use in running their industries. Clothing makes modern man to focus more on fashion and design. While the development of language assists man to communicate effectively in this age. 7The three skulls are:1. The new world monkeys 2. The old world monkeys and 3. The chimpanzees All the skulls are in a line on the wall of the museum.

8 The museum and zoo fieldwork experiences were quite educative and interesting. For the museum, there was much detail to learn within a small place, and this could result into monotony. Zoo experience is better as there is a wide space to move around, and it is nice to study the living animals as opposed to the museum where the knowledge presented relies on the imagination of the past. Experiencing the reality in the zoo is remarkable. 9My favorite species is the Cro-Magnon. The species is interesting as it was the first to develop language cues that the later hominids lacked.

The present man was able to advance from the primitive speech that they developed to the currently developed and complicated language.Though it is comprehensible that there had to be a hominid to commence using speech, there is the lack of convincing evidence to substantiate that characteristic. The disturbing question is how the close cousin to men got wiped out from the surface of the earth. If the fight for common resources and habitat intensifies, one may wonder whether a similar fate awaits the multiple cultures and races of the contemporary humans.

Works Cited Walker-Pacheco, Suzanne E. Exploring Physical Anthropology. Englewood, Colo.: Morton Publishing Company, 2010. Print..