Biological Anthropology - Assignment Example

Biological Anthropology Question Several mechanisms play a crucial role in the development of new species. The first mechanism is natural selection. It plays a role in the origin and continuation of biological diversity among species. Natural selection is a crucial mechanism for evolutionary changes within species. It can lead to the appearance of new species. It also generates an array of genetic and phenotypic diversity that is observed in nature (Marks 17). For instance, populations in different ecological environments have the potential to undergo adaptive and divergent evolutionary changes through divergent natural selections. The evolutionary changes can lead to the evolution of separate species within the population. Adaptation to an environment might cause differences on how individuals in the population behave or smell. These might lead to changes in mating patterns. As a result, the populations stop exchanging genes. The second mechanism is mutation order. Evolution of reproductive isolation occurs through fixation of advantageous mutations (Marks 17). Different populations have genetic solutions to similar selective problems. The diverse genetic solutions may be incompatible with the solutions used by others in the population causing reproductive isolation. Question 2 2A Anagenesis refers to an evolution that occurs within a linage while cladogenesis refers to an evolution that occurs from the splitting of a linage (Marks 88). In cladogenesis, evolution occurs in branching patterns. This means that many species evolve from one parent species. This differs from anagenesis because evolution occurs from a change in gene frequency within an entire population. 2B The phylogenetic tree that uses prosimian vs. anthropoids differs from a cladogram that differentiates strepsirhine vs. haplorhine. A phlogenetic tree represents the evolutionary relationship that exists among sets of organisms. The tip of the tree represents groups of descendent taxa while the nodes represent the common ancestors of the descendenta. Conversely, a cladogram represents a hypothesis concerning the evolutionary history of a species or group. cladograms have clades that are groups of organisms and their ancestors (Marks 90). A claogram represents the outcoes of cladogenesis. It shows the processes of adaptive evolution and the development of a variety of sister organisms. Question 3 All primates had a common ancestor. Within primates, all anthropoids have a common ancestor whose descendents were anthropoids (Marks 170). Priates evolved through reversal or convergence. This means that they have a common ancestor. However, the ancestor might be lacking some of the characteristics of these organisms. Some of the traits of strepsirhines are derived from ancestral primates. However, some traits may be unique to strepsirhines. Strepsirhines are characterized by their ancestral traits that are shared with rhinarium and simians. They are wastebasket taxa for the lower primates because of their mixed assemblage. Haplorhines share traits or derived features that distinguish them from strepsirrhine. The brain to body ratio of haplorhines is significantly higher than strepsirrhines. Their upper lip is not connected to the gum or nose, which allows a range of facial expressions. Tarsiers have a unique cranial anatomy, which results from the balance between the heavy head and large eyes. Their brain arrangement is different to the arrangement in other primates. These differences distinguish tarsiers and other primates. This implies that they might have evolved from an independent line. Haplorhini are higher classifications of anthropoids. Platyrrhines are mid-sized primates. They have a distinctive nose that distinguishes them from other primates. They have a trichromatic vision. Catarrhini are primates that have flat noses with nostrils facing downwards. They also do not have prehensile tails. Additionally, they have flat toenails and fingernails. Cercopithecoidea are large sized primates that have tails that are not prehensile. Hominoidea do not have tails. They also have a higher level of intelligence compared to other monkeys (Marks 170). Question 4 An example of a lemur species is the Hairy-eared dwarf lemur that lives in Madagascar. They live in only one single location in Madagascar where they build leafy nests. They are critically endangered. An example of a loris species is the slow Lories or Nycticebus. This species is found in Sri Lanka and practice infant parking. Before they leave their offspring, they bathe them with allergic saliva, which protects them from predators. An example of the tarsier species is Carlito syrichita that is found in Philippine. They are insectivorous, and they catch insects by leaping at them (Kimbel 89). An example of the platyrrhine species is the endemic platyrrhine femur that lives in Haiti. They have a trichromatic vision. An example of the cercopithecoidea species is Papio Anubis, which lives in New Guinea. They are terrestrial. However, they climb rocks, cliffs and trees in order to sleep at night. An example of the hominoidea species is Pan Troglodytes that live in West and Central Africa, particularly in Congo. They have the ability to make tools that help them in acquiring food. They also use these tools for social display (Kimbel 89). Question 5 5A There are several advantages and disadvantages of living as a group. The advantages are cooperative food collection, sharing of information and protection from predators. The disadvantages of living together include increased disease and parasite load and increased competition for mates, water and food (Mitani, Josep, Peter, Ryne and Joan 31). 5B Primates that live in solitary do not interact or socialize with others. For instance, the vegetarian orangutans live solitary lives. The monogampus group has female, male and children. The children leave the family once they group in order to form their nuclear families. Small Asian apes live in monogamous groups. The polyandrous group is a common social group for the tamarins. The tamarins start as monogamous mating pairs (Mitani, Josep, Peter, Ryne and Joan 38). A second adult male joins the monogamous group. The second male assists in child bearing and rearing. Other instances of polyandry consist of one male and several females. This means that one male lives and mates with more than one female. The multi-male social group is common among baboon. This group has several males living among a group of females. However, among the apes, there is an alpha male. This social grouping has a dominance hierarchy where each individual is ranked according to the family and strength. Alpha males within the group mate more times than other males. The one male social structure is characterized by polygynous mating patterns. In this group, one male mates with several females. The females and male form a distinctive child-rearing group. Howler monkeys use this social group. A fission fusion society changes according to situations and activities. This social pattern is typical for chimpanzees. In this case, individuals enter or leave the social group according to situations and activities in the group. This is typical of all chimpanzees and acts as the stable core of the social group. The hamadryas baboons use the hamadryas social group. The social group has four levels (Mitani, Josep, Peter, Ryne and Joan 40). Socialization mainly occurs within the small groups, which are called harems. The harems contain one male and several female members. Harems unit form clans, which have an age-related supremacy hierarchy. Clans form the next social level, the bands. Each band protects its members from interacting with members of other bands. The bands form troops, though the bands live independently in the troops. Question 6 The last common ancestor shared by chimpanzees, humans and bonobos had undergone substantial changes in organizations and brain size. As a result, modern chimpanzees and humans show striking differences from apes in the realms of linguistics and cognition. The last common ancestor of humans, bonobos and chimpanzees had a brain of 300-400g (Tallerman and Kathleen 28). This brain displayed some unique characteristics particularly in phylogenetic specialization of anatomical organization, development and biochemical functions. These anatomical substrates facilitated to the development and enhancement of social cognition and behavioral flexibility. This evolutionary history leads to the conclusion that the modern human mind is a mosaic of traits that are inherited from one ancestry with the close relatives of humans. The modern human specific linguistic and cognitive adaptations are correlated with an expansion of the neo-cortex and its related structures. The unique brain growth of modern humans has contributed to the specie’s linguistic and cognitive abilities. Question 7 Goodall’s book shows that different mothers and their approaches towards mothering have the potential to affect the success and personality of their offspring. From her study of chimpanzees, Goodall saw that mothering could be discouraging and overwhelming. The personality of a mother affects the child because of the choices they makes. Additionally, the strengths and weaknesses of a mother can affect the successes and potentials of the offspring. Goodall found that chimpanzees were highly emotional and intelligent creatures (Goodall 31). The socialization of the chimpanzees had direct impacts on their offspring. Socialization ensured that chimpanzees have appropriate interpersonal and communication skills. Mothers played a crucial role in transferring skills and knowledge to their offspring. For instance, mothers could teach their offspring how to make tools and use them to extract food. Goodall concluded that chimpanzees, like humans have personality and rational thoughts. Question 8 8A There are several mating scenarios for male and female chimpanzees. Each of the mating scenarios is based on the female’s cycle. Additionally, the mating scenarios are based on the popularity of a female as a sexual partner. During early tumescence, female chimpanzees mate with infants, early adolescent and juvenile male chimpanzees. Mature males do not mate until the female chimpanzee has reached maximum tumescence. A female that has reached maximum tumescence becomes the main attraction for a multi-male party. The male party may include all mature males within the community. During this period, mating is extremely promiscuous. Some males are extremely possessive as they ensure that their female mates do not have other sexual partners (Goodall 59). As a human, I feel that male chimpanzees violate their female partners. The instance of a multi-male party mating with a single female is similar to sexual assault, from a human perspective. 8B The sexual relationship between chimpanzees was unusual. The sexual relationships are odd because of the way male chimpanzees treat their female counterparts. First, they ignore their physiological process by allowing juvenile male chimpanzees to mate with adult females. Additionally, a number of adult males mate with a female in quick successions (Goodall 67). This contrasts the sexual relationship between baboons. In the case of baboons, one male accompanies a female to the bush where they mate. The male attempts to protect the female from other males. Question 9 Events at Gombe in the 1970s revealed the darker side of chimpanzee’s nature. During this period, Jane Goodall witnessed the brutality, cruelty and violence perpetrated by chimpanzees. One of the chimpanzees named Mike was ousted as an alpha male following a battle with Humphrey. The ousting of Mike by Humphrey led some of the chimpanzees to abandon the group. Conflict between the splinter and Kasakela group erupted and escalated as time passed. Latter, Figan defeated Humphrey as the alpha male. He won the submission of all the males in Kasakela. During this period, Passion exhibited a weird behavior. Together with her daughter, they hunted down and ate approximately 10 newborn chimpanzees (Goodall 72). Question 10 The two male chimpanzees developed a strategy that would give them the alpha male status. They took the “war” to the males in Kahama. They hunted down their enemy and attacked them brutally (Goodall 69). They would leave their victim to die of the wounds sustained. Within a period of four years, they had eliminated seven male at Kahama. Additional Question My favorite chimpanzee was David Greybeard. He was intelligent, hardworking and selfless. He also helped in changing the perception that chimpanzees are vegetarian after Goodall saw him eat a bush pig. He shared the meat with a female chimpanzee. Later, David was seen “fishing” termites from a termite nest. In order to fish out the termites, David was using a flexible probe. David came back to the termite nest with another chimpanzee, Goliath, and made tools for fishing out the termite (Goodall 55). Works Cited Goodall, Jane. Through a Window: My Thirty Years with the Chimpanzees of Gombe. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2010. Internet resource. Kimbel, William H. Species, Species Concepts, and Primate Evolution. New York [u.a.: Plenum Press, 1993. Print. Marks, Jonathan. The Alternative Introduction to Biological Anthropology. New York: Oxford University Press, 2011. Print. Mitani, John C, Josep Call, Peter M. Kappeler, Ryne A. Palombit, and Joan B. Silk. The Evolution of Primate Societies. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 2012. Internet resource. Tallerman, Maggie, and Kathleen R. Gibson. The Oxford Handbook of Language Evolution. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012. Print. Read More