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12.6 Primate Evolution

12.6 Primate Evolution. How did modern humans evolve?. KEY CONCEPT Humans appeared late in Earth’s history. Humans share a common ancestor with other primates. Common ancestor of all primates probably arose before the mass extinction that ended the Cretaceous Period.

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12.6 Primate Evolution

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  1. 12.6 Primate Evolution How did modern humans evolve?

  2. KEY CONCEPT Humans appeared late in Earth’s history.

  3. Humans share a common ancestor with other primates. • Common ancestor of all primates probably arose before the mass extinction that ended the Cretaceous Period. • Primates are mammals with flexible hands and feet, forward-looking eyes and enlarged brains.

  4. Prosimians are the oldest living primates. • They are mostly small and nocturnal. (lemurs) • Primates evolved into prosimians and anthropoids. These are the tarsiers. Their physical appearance has changed little since their appearance 40 MYA.

  5. Anthropoids are humanlike primates. • They are subdivided into the New World monkeys, Old World monkeys, and hominoids.

  6. New world monkeys are native to the Americas. • Live in trees • Have grasping tails

  7. Old world monkeys are native to Africa. • spend some time in trees, but spend much of the time foraging on the ground • They have larger brains and can grasp things better.

  8. Homonoids are divided into hominids, great apes, • and lesser apes. • Homonids include living and extinct humans.

  9. Homonids walk upright, have longer lower limbs, opposable thumbs, and large brains • Include all species in the human lineage, both modern and extinct. • The skeletal changes required to walk upright can be seen in intermediate fossils between homonoids.

  10. Walking upright hasimportant adaptiveadvantages. • foraging • carrying infants and food • using tools • Bipedal means walking on two legs.

  11. There are many fossils of extinct hominids. • Most hominids are either the genus Australopithecus or Homo. • Australopithecines were a successful genus. • The Homo genus first evolved 2.4 million years ago.

  12. Australopithecus afarensis Homo habilis Homo neanderthalensis Homo sapiens Modern humans arose about 100,000 years ago. • Homo sapiens fossils date to 100,000 years ago in Ethopia. • Human evolution is influenced by a tool-based culture. • There is a trend toward increased brain size in hominids.

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