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The Last Ape Standing

The Last Ape Standing.

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The Last Ape Standing

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  1. The Last Ape Standing

  2. It is therefore probable that Africa was formerly inhabited by extinct apes closely allied to the gorilla and chimpanzee: and as these two species are now man’s nearest allies, it is somewhat more probable that our early progenitors lived on the African continent than elsewhere. -Darwin (1871) The Descent of Man

  3. Mt-DNA Primate Tree

  4. Our Living Sisters Pan Gorilla http://www.mnh.si.edu/anthro/humanorigins/ha/a_tree.html

  5. Living Asian Apes Gibbon (Hyalobates) Orangutan (Pongo)

  6. Apes in the Primates

  7. Features that distinguish the Hominins from other living apes • Bipedal Locomotion • Figure 1 from Richmond, B. G., D. R. Begun, and D. S. Strait. 2001. Origin of human bipedalism: The knuckle-walking hypothesis revisited. Yearbook of Physical Anthropology. 44:70-105.

  8. Bipedalism • Freed the hands and allowed more manipulative capabilities • Led to a higher thermoregulatory efficiency • Widened feeding potential • Reduced predation pressures • Was more energetically efficient mode of locomotion

  9. Oldest evidence of bipedalism 70 footprints in volcanic ash dated to 3.6 MYA, Laetoli, Tanzania, discovered by a team led by Mary Leakey in 1978

  10. Footprint experiment (Raichlen et al. 2010) A. Normal gait in sand (H.sapiens) B. Bent-knee, bent-hip gait in sand (similar to walk of apes) C. Footprint from Laetoli, Tanzania

  11. Features that distinguish the Homininsfrom other living apes • Neoteny • Nakedness • Large Brain Size • Reduced Dentition

  12. The NeotenicApes

  13. Hair loss and lice Summarized in Reed et al. 2007. Pair of lice lost or parasites regained: the evolutionary history of anthropoid primate lice. BMC Biology 5:7. doi: 10.1186/1741-7007-5-7

  14. Phylogeny of some living primates and their lice Also from Reed et al. (2007)

  15. Tales of the Lice • Human head louse vs chimp louse (how long ago we diverged) ~6-7MYA • Human head louse vs human body louse (how long ago we began to wear clothes) ~50-100KYA • Human pubic louse vs gorilla body louse (how long ago we began to lose fur to patches of hair) ~3-4MYA

  16. Large Brain Potts 2011 Navarette et al. 2011

  17. Reduced dentition Image from Anthropological Curiosities.

  18. Features that distinguish the Homininsfrom other apes • Vocal Communication • Lower larynx • Fox P2 gene

  19. http://www.voice.northwestern.edu/VOICEBOX/Larynx.htm

  20. PBS NOVA

  21. Proconsul Likely a sister to the apes with a mix of ape-monkey characters 14-23 MYA Africa

  22. Dryopithecus Early ape 15-9 MYA Africa, Eurasia

  23. Ardipithecus • Africa • Brain ~300-350cc • 120 (f) cm tall • 50 (f) kg • ~6.0 – 4.2 MYA

  24. Miocene Epoch • 23-5.3 MYA • Epoch of ape radiation (>100 species of apes in the latter part of the Miocene) • They ranged though Africa, Europe, and Asia • The end of the Miocene saw the separation between the African Apes (chimpanzees, bonobos, and gorillas) and the Hominin Apes • Africa moved northward and formed the Mediterranean Sea, which dried out multiple times. Data from NASA, USGS, NOAA

  25. Pliocene Epoch • 5.3-2.5 MYA • Epoch of bipedal ape radiation. • They ranged though Africa • Gracile and robust lines • Pliocene relatively warm Data from NASA, USGS, NOAA

  26. Human PhylogenyThe Smithsonian InstitutionMuseum of Natural History http://www.mnh.si.edu/anthro/humanorigins/ha/a_tree.html

  27. Hominin Series (A) Pan troglodytes, chimpanzee, modern (B) Australopithecus africanus, 2.6 My (C) Australopithecus africanus, 2.5 My (D) Homo habilis, 1.9 My (E) Homo habilis, 1.8 My (F) Homo rudolfensis, 1.8 My (G) Homo erectus, 1.75 My (H) Homo ergaster(early H. erectus), 1.75 My (I) Homo heidelbergensis, 300,000 - 125,000 y (J) Homo neanderthalensis, 70,000 y (K) Homo neanderthalensis, 60,000 y (L) Homo neanderthalensis, 45,000 y (M) Homo sapiens, 30,000 y (N) Homo sapiens, modern http://www.talkingorigins.com

  28. Australopithecus afarensis Africa Brain 375-550 cc 107 (f)-152 (m) cm tall 29 (f) – 42 (m) kg ~3.0-3.9 MYA British Museum of Natural History and Smithsonian Museum

  29. Australopithecus africanus Africa Brain 420-500 cc 110 (f)-140 (m) cm tall 30 (f) - 41 (m) kg ~2.4-2.8 MYA British Museum of Natural History and the Smithsonian Museum

  30. Paranthropusrobustus Africa Brain ~530cc 110 (f)-130 (m) cm tall 32 (f) – 40 (m) kg ~1.0 – 2.0 MYA http://www.maropeng.co.za

  31. Pleistocene Epoch • 2.5-0.012 MYA • Appearance and radiation of Homo. • They ranged though Africa and emerged into the rest of the earth. • Global climates extremely unsettled and variable Data from NASA, USGS, NOAA

  32. Homo habilis • Africa • Brain ~500-800 cc • 100 (f) – 135 (m) cm tall • 32 (f) – 37 (m) kg • ~1.44-2.3 MYA http://macscience.files.wordpress.com

  33. Olduwan stone tools in Ethiopia • 2.6 -1.8 MYA • Chipped pebbles and choppers, usually lava • Likely made by H. habilis

  34. Homo erectus • Africa, Eurasia • ~Brain 750-1225 cc • 145 (f) – 185 (m) cm tall • 40 (f) – 68 (m) kg • ~0.3-1.8 MYA http://www.mnh.si.edu/anthro/humanorigins/ha/a_tree.html

  35. Range of H. erectus • Evidence for controlled use of fire • Acheulean tools (1.7-0.1 MYA) http://anthro.palomar.edu

  36. Homo heidelbergensis • Africa, Eurasia • Brain ~1100-1400 cc • 157 (f) - 175 (m) cm tall • 51 (f) – 62 (m) kg • ~0.2-0.6 MYA Smithsonian Institution

  37. Homo neanderthalensis • Eurasia • Brain ~1100-1400 cc • 155 (f) – 164 (m) cm tall • 54 (f) – 64 (m) kg • ~0.03-0.3 MYA Neanderthal Museum

  38. Range of the Neanderthals http://www.rhesusnegative.net

  39. Behaviors of H. neanderthalensis • Scavengers and up close spear hunting of large animals (see Figure) • Relatively complex stone tools (Mousterian, see Figure) • Tools from wood, bone, tusks, and antlers • Evidence of burials and ceremony • Possible verbal communication

  40. Homo floresiensis • Asia (Indonesia) • Brain ~380-417 cc • ~106 (f?) cm tall • 30 (f?) kg • ~0.013-0.095 MYA

  41. Homo sapiens • Africa to all land surfaces • ~1350 cc (975-1499) • US ave: 162 (f) – 175.8 (m) cm tall • US ave: 74 (f) – 86.4 (m) kg • ~present-0.2 MYA

  42. Homo sapiens • Appeared ~200,000 years ago with a suite of behaviors similar to neanderthals • Likely in small populations (~140) with a total number of 100,000 • Bottleneck reduced to ~10,000 individuals

  43. Theories regarding the origin of Homo sapiens Recent Out of Africa • More consistent with the genetic data • Mitochondrial • Y-chromosome • Genetic variability • Consistent with language families • Neanderthals a different species Multiregional Hypothesis • Explains racial differences by isolation and periodic mixing between populations • Connects H. erectus directly to H. sapiens • Neanderthal a step in the evolution of modern humans

  44. Genetic variation in Homo sapiens

  45. Classic archaeologically-accessible evidence of behavioral modernity includes: • finely-made tools • fishing • evidence of long-distance exchange or barter among groups • systematic use of pigment (such as ochre) and jewelry for decoration or self-ornamentation • figurative art (cave paintings, petroglyphs, figurine) • game playing and music • foods being cooked and seasoned instead of being consumed in the raw • burial • Calvin. 2003. A Brief History of Mind; Stringer. 2011. Origin of our Species

  46. Homo sapiens, the generalist Rick Potts of the Smithsonian Institution

  47. Why are we the last ape standing? • We were lucky • We outcompeted the other bipedal apes • We killed the other bipedal apes

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