Primatology and Biological Anthropology - Assignment Example

The paper "Primatology and Biological Anthropology" is a good example of an essay on anthropology. Chimpanzees just like all sets of living organisms embrace specific behaviors that help them adapt to their environments. One outstanding behavior that I have observed is their copulatory success, which is normally high and results in substantial number of progeny. Primate behavioral ecologists have overtime reaffirmed the opinion that too many offspring routinely harm other primates within the group, for they are normally forced to search for better living conditions because of limited resources. The ecologists attribute the copulatory success of chimpanzees to the fact that they can easily access their mates given the large social groups within which they reside. 

In the past, chimpanzees used to walk on four legs, while current research has pointed towards the fact that a considerable percentage of chimpanzees have begun embracing bipedalism (University of California). Researchers have attributed the need to walk on two legs to natural selection and the need to adapt, as quadrupeds burn numerous calories, hence their cells wear out and die faster while bipedalism provides chimpanzees with the platform to use their calories prudently.
Point Make-up options
Question 1: Primatology
The submissive and dominant behavior portrayed by apes in the movie Rise of the Planet of Apes is undeniably accurate, as corroborated by research carried out by Yerkes Primate Center researchers and published by the National Academy of Sciences. The investigators argued that apes reside in complex and tightly woven societies, and use gestures to convey countless messages including for compromise and obedience. Consequently, they reaffirmed that the only way through which apes would manage to exist such amicably was by being submissive.
Question 5: Biological Anthropology
i. The perpetrator in the case cannot be identified using the standard DNA tests essentially because the key suspects are identical twins, who developed from a solitary fertilized egg, hence have nearly undistinguishable genomes.
ii. For the prosecutors to tell the identical twins apart, they will have to carry out the ultra-deep, which is a next-generation sequencing procedure that takes a closer look at the genetic base pairs. This procedure is likely to work, as it depends on mutations that take place unsystematically in the course of development and it is exceptionally improbable that both twins will go through mutations at a single location.  Read More