Evolution: Human and Skull Shape Bipedalism Essay

Submitted By pingdingwing

Words: 430

Pages: 2

Open Document

Some Ideas to Consider

Why is there a difference between the maxillary (jaw) angle, teeth, and palate of chimps and humans?
Sexual selection. Teeth are more important for intimidation purposes in chimps. We smile, but it's not intimidating.
Talking. Our mouth is a compromise between what can bite/chew and what can talk.

The relationship between the evolution of bipedalism and skull shape

Bipedalism allowed the easy carrying of tools, including the carrying of crude spears while hunting. Spears increased success while hunting. Bipedalism did too, with the development of "persistence hunting" in which the prey becomes heat-exhausted more quickly than the hunter.
Increased success in hunting meant the hominins could enjoy better quality food -- meat -- thereby making development of bigger brains possible. The bigger brained hominins were better thinkers, making better weapons and planning better hunts or even raids on other groups of hominins. There was probably a kind of arms race in which the groups with better tacticians were more likely to survive to reproduce, and thus bigger brains proliferated.
The bigger brained better thinkers thought up more uses for tools, and then made the tools. With the ability to slice meat with knapped stone knives, and the ability to mash tough vegetation and seeds, having big tough teeth became less important. Also, with cooperation becoming important in groups, sexual dimorphism diminished -- a displaying of teeth was no longer used to intimidate rivals. Hominins with smaller teeth were able to survive and reproduce, with no disadvantage. Cooking played a role here too. Boiling vegetables increased the nutritional value while decreasing the amount of chewing needed, thus a decrease in mouth size was possible. Molars didn't need to be so big

What Role Does Pelvis Play In Human Evolution

Human pelvis plays a greater role when it comes to survival and existence of people. It allows locomotion and enables generation continuation by allowing babies to be born more comfortably. It has evolved over time, and its analysis is of great value to understand modern human beings. People fall in the same class of apes such as the chimpanzees, and it is believed that they evolved from one ancestor. Evolution however, took place when human beings started walking upright with two legs most likely…

Words 943 - Pages 4

Anthropology: Pelvis and Larger Brain Mass Essay

Evolutionary Traits of Humans The debate about evolution can tend to be a very heated one. When looking at our history it can be hard to look at it objectively. Often we have some preconceived notion as to where we came from or how we came to be who we are today and there are many theories to offer answers to these questions. However, anthropologists have found evidence that appears to conclude that we did evolve from an ape-like ancestor. These clues have come in all forms, sizes, and shapes. But, some of…

Words 1246 - Pages 5

Essay on Human Evolution and Homo Sapiens

Human Evolution Outline I. Evolution is directional change and is the primary way that we understand the biological history of humankind. 1. The processes of evolution shaped humans’ brains and bodies. 2. It has also shaped our capacity for culture. II. Charles Darwin’s theory of natural selection proved the most convincing scientific explanation of the variety and history of life on earth. 1. Natural selection—the mechanism of evolutionary change; changes in traits of living organisms that…

Words 3863 - Pages 16

History: Hominina and Australopithecus Afarensis Children Essay

Gabriela Burgos Research Paper A hominid is a primate of a family that includes humans and their fossil ancestors. There is a lot of different type of hominid like Sahelanthropus tchadensis 7 million years ago, Orrorin tugenensis 6.1 through 5.8 million years ago, Ardipithecus kadabba 5.8 through 5.5 million years ago, Ardipithecus ramidus 4.4 through 4.2 million years ago, Australopithecus anamensis 4.2 through 3.8 million years ago, Australopithecus afarensis 3.8 through 2.7 million…

Words 736 - Pages 3

Essay on Language Evolution

Evolution of Language LING 100 Evolution In the “struggle for life, any variation, however slight and from whatever cause proceeding, if it be in any degree profitable to an individual or any species, in its infinitely complex relations to other organic beings and to the external nature, will tend to the preservation of the individual, and will generally be inherited by its offspring.” - Charles Darwin (1859) Origins of Language n How did language evolve? n Religions provide various explanations…

Words 2362 - Pages 10

Ecology and Evolution Final Essay

Gene’s Work) Describe Modern Synthesis (Microevolution) Apply Mendelian genetics to Darwinian evolution. (early 1940’s: Theodorus Dobzhansky, Ernst Mary, George Gaykird Simpson, G. Ledyard Stebbins were key architects. It emphasized the importance of populations as the units of evolution Populations evolve—individuals DO NOT evolve Central role of natural selection as the mechanism of evolution Gradualism-accumulation of many small changes to larger changes No paradigm remains unchallenged:…

Words 6855 - Pages 28

Anth101 Study Guide Essay

Anthropology=Study of Humankind Human species and ancestors Holistic(整体的)--past, present, and future; biology, society, language, and culture Comparative, cross-cultural perspective Exploring variation in time (diachronic历经时间长河的) and space (synchronic不考虑历史上变化的) Anthropology in the news: http://anthropology.tamu.edu/html/in-the-news.html Adaptation It is all about adaptation What distinguishes humans from other species? Before J. Goodall, it was just technology Bipedalism（两足动物）, culture, language…

Words 9384 - Pages 38

Interaction Of Mutation And Natural Selection

selective advantage (fitness) over homozygotes for “normal” hemoglobin and for homozygotes for sickle cell. Therefore, the sickle cell allele is maintained at relatively high frequencies, and this is an example of balanced polymorphism. Evolution of relationship between sickle cell allele and malaria: Spread of slash-and-burn agriculture is responsible for the selective advantage of the sickle cell allele Slash-and-burn agriculture was introduced in rainforest areas of Africa approximately…

Words 3236 - Pages 13

Out: Gender and Sexual Dimorphism Essay

vulnerability of our ever‐more complex, neuron‐incubating offspring, human males and females developed ever‐diverging bodies and ever‐differing social roles, relative to our primate kin, that in hunter‐ gatherer societies became codified as “gender roles.” The nature of Jun‐ gian archetypes, the tenets of Cultural Anthropology, the linguistic determinism of Chomsky and Sapir‐Whorf, and Dumézil’s religio‐social model for the evolution of Indo‐European societies will be analyzed in support of this paradigm…

Words 7791 - Pages 32