1 / 27

Evolution of Primates and Hominids: From Lemurs to Humans

Explore the fascinating evolution of primates, including lemurs, monkeys, apes, and humans. Discover the key adaptations that differentiate primates from other mammals and the progression of hominid species leading to modern Homo sapiens. Consider different hypotheses on human origins and the impact of cultural evolution on our species.

acorbitt
Download Presentation

Evolution of Primates and Hominids: From Lemurs to Humans

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Chapter 21 The Evolution of Primates

  2. Mammals • Endothermic • Body hair • Feed young with milk from mammary glands • Most are viviparous

  3. Placental mammals • Placenta exchanges materials between mother and fetus • Newborns are more developed than marsupials

  4. Primates • Five grasping digits • Opposable thumb or toe • Long, freely moving limbs • Eyes in front of the head • Relatively large brain

  5. Primate hands and feet

  6. Suborder Prosimii • Lemurs • Suborder Tarsiiformes • Tarsiers • Suborder Anthropoidae • Monkeys, apes, humans

  7. Primate evolution

  8. Anthropoids • Old and new world monkeys • Apes and humans • Hominoids • Apes • Gibbons • Orangutans • Gorillas • Chimpanzees • Humans

  9. New world monkey Old world monkey

  10. Hominids • Humans • Extinct human ancestors

  11. Differences between ape and human skeletons • Human adaptations for bipedal life on the ground • Complex curvature of the spine • Shorter, broader pelvis • Foramen magnum at base of skull • First toe aligned with other toes

  12. Human and gorilla skeletons

  13. Human and gorilla heads

  14. Sahelanthropus tchadensis • 6-7 mya • May be the earliest known hominid • Discovered in 2002

  15. Australopithecines • Bipedal • Ardipithecus ramidus • Australopithecus anamensis • Australopithecus afarensis • Australopithecus africanus

  16. An interpretation of hominid evolution

  17. Homo habilis • Appeared 2.3 mya • Human features not found in australopithecines • Slightly larger brain • Stone tools

  18. Homo erectus • Appeared 1.7 mya in Africa • Larger brain than Homo habilis • More sophisticated tools • Maybe clothing, fires, shelters

  19. Homo erectus skull

  20. Archaic Homo sapiens • Appeared 800,000 years ago • Overlapped Homo erectus populations in Africa, Asia, and Europe and later Neandertals

  21. Neandertals • Appeared 230,000 years ago • Short, sturdy builds • receding chin and forehead • Heavy supraorbital ridge • Larger front teeth • May be a separate species

  22. Homo sapiens • Appeared 100,000 years ago in anatomically modern form • Lacked heavy brow ridge • Prominent chin • Complex weapons and tools • European Homo sapiens known as Cro-Magnons

  23. Out-of-Africa hypothesis • H. sapiens evolved from AfricanH. erectus 200,000 to 100,000 ya • Migrated to Europe and Asia • Displaced more primitive humans

  24. Multiregional hypothesis • Modern humans evolved from separate populations in Africa, Asia, and Europe ~2 mya • Populations evolved separately but also interbred • One species with regional variations that still exist

  25. Molecular anthropology • Comparison of biological materials from modern populations • Mitochondrial DNA • Generally supports the Out-of-Africa hypothesis

  26. Cultural evolution • Transmission of knowledge across generations • Enabled by large brain size • Agriculture • Industry • Rapidly expanding population had degraded the environment

More Related