INTRODUCTION TO PHYSICAL ANTHROPOLOGY



Introduction to Physical Anthropology

Study Guide #3

|Living primates |WEEK 9-10 |

Answer the following questions:

1. What characterizes the order Primates in general?

2. How long have primates been around compared to other still living mammal groups?

(Think in terms of monotremes, marsupials, and other placental mammals.)

3. Why can’t a species be descended from a contemporary species? For example, why can’t chimpanzees be our ancestors? (Hint: all species change over time.)

4. What is the function of an opposable thumb? What difference does it make in gripping things?

5. Generally, where are the eyes located on the heads of animals that have good stereoscopic vision? Why?

6. Why did primates develop prehensile hands and stereoscopic vision?

(Think in terms of advantages.)

7. Generally, what is the relationship between body size and life span among mammals?

8. Generally, how long are primate gestation periods compared to other mammals of comparable size?

9. In what climatic zones do most primates live?

10. Where are the prosimians found in the wild today?

11. How do the New World monkeys differ as a group from the Old World monkeys?

12. Where in the world are the Old World monkeys found in the wild today?

13. How do the apes and humans differ from the monkeys?

(Think in terms of physical traits and capabilities.)

14. In what ways are the ape species different from each other?

15. What does the genetic evidence indicate about the evolutionary relationship between the various ape species and humans?

16. How does the life expectancy and years of life stages (childhood and adulthood) among humans compare to other primates?

17. Questions from video (“Life in the Trees”):

a. How do some Japanese macaques (snow monkeys) keep warm during the coldest times of

the winter?

b. What is the social life like in gorilla and chimpanzee communities?

Define and/or explain the following terms:

1. primatology

2. bush meat

3. clavicle

4. pentadactylism

5. prehensile (in reference to hands, feet, and tail)

6. tactile pads (on fingers and toes)

7. power grip

8. precision grip

9. locomotion (locomotor pattern)

10. arboreal

11. semi-terrestrial

12. rhinarium

13. olfactory sense

14. binocular stereoscopic vision

15. omnivorous

16. herbivorous

17. carnivorous

18. nocturnal

19. diurnal

20. scent marking

21. dental formula

22. higher primates

23. lower primates

24. great apes

25. lesser apes

26. sexual dimorphism

27. ischial callosity

28. sexual skin

29. sacculated stomach

30. brachiation and suspensory climbing

31. knuckle walking

32. pelvis

33. bipedalism and quadrupedalism

34. Prosimii (prosimians)

35. Lemuriformes

36. Tarsiformes

37. Lemuroidea

38. Lorisoidea

39. Anthropoidea (anthropoids)

40. Platyrrhini

41. Catarrhini

42. Callitricidae

43. Cebidae

44. Cercopithecinae

45. Colobinae

46. Hominoidea (hominoids)

47. Hylobatidae

48. Hominidae (hominids)

49. Ponginae

50. Gorillinae

51. Homininae

|Primate behavior |WEEK 10-11 |

Answer the following questions:

1. Why must we be cautious about accepting the results of non-human primate behavior studies indiscriminately? What factors might cause us to question whether the studies describe natural behavior?

2. Why are long term studies of primate behavior necessary? Why do you suppose short term studies don't get the same kinds of data? How long should the studies take?

3. What are the advantages for non-human primates of spending most of their lives in social groups? (think in terms of food, defense, etc.)

4. Why do terrestrial primates tend to form large social groups?

5. What is the composition of each of the six different kinds of social groups that primates form?

6. What kinds of kinship relationships, if any, do the non-human primates recognize?

7. Are the semi-terrestrial primates usually more or less sexually dimorphic than the arboreal ones? Why?

8. In what ways do primate males usually behave differently from females?

9. What are the functions of allogrooming?

10. What are the functions of primate territorial behavior?

(think in terms of the exploitation of resources and population control)

11. How do non-human primates make up for their generally unspecialized food getting ability?

12. What evidence is there for non-human primate tool manufacturing and use? How does this use compare with that of humans?

13. What is non-human primate play like for juveniles and what is its function?

14. How do humans and non-human primates compare in terms of diet and food getting approaches?

15. How do human and non-human primates compare in terms of mating patterns?

16. What is non-human primate communication like?

17. What is meant by the statement that "human speech is open and has a displacement ability"? What other primate species have communication with these characteristics?

18. What is the most biologically successful (i.e., most abundant and widespread) ape?

19. What is the most biologically successful monkey?

20. What is the most biologically successful primate?

21. Questions from videos (“Monkey in the Mirror” and “Monkey Island”):

a. What is the significance of recognizing yourself in a mirror? What primates can do it?

b. Who is Kanzi? What is special about him?

c. Where is Cayo Santiago? What non-human primate species is common there?

d. Which individuals make up the enduring core of rhesus macaque communities?

Define and/or explain the following:

1. primatology

2. natural, free-ranging population

3. home range

4. female-bonded groups

5. one-male-several-female group (or uni-male group)

6. multimale-multifemale group

7. fission-fusion society

8. monogamy

9. polygyny

10. polyandry

11. matrilineal descent

12. estrus

13. autogrooming and allogrooming

14. threat gesture or agonistic display

15. vocalization

16. territoriality

17. dominance hierarchy

18. alpha male and alpha female

19. alloparenting

20. protocultural behavior

|Paleoanthropology |WEEK 12 |

Answer the following questions:

1. What forms do fossils take?

2. Why aren't there more fossils?

3. In what kinds of environments are fossils most likely to be preserved? Why?

4. In what ways is the fossil record biased?

5. What kinds of things can we learn from fossilized skeletons?

Define and/or explain the following terms:

1. fossil

2. permafrost

3. anaerobic

4. taphonomy

5. erosion

6. sedimentation

7. paleoecology

8. paleopathology

9. palynology

10. paleoanthropology

11. paleontology

12. paleospecies

13. approaches to categorizing fossil species:

a. typological

b. populational

|Dating methods |WEEK 12 |

Answer the following questions:

1. Which of the dating techniques are relative? Which ones are chronometric?

2. Why is the application of the principle of superposition often difficult in dating by stratigraphy?

3. Why is it unwise to compare the fluorine and nitrogen amounts in bones from different sites in order to date them relatively?

4. Where does carbon-14 come from? How do living organisms get it into their bodies? Why does it diminish at a constant rate in an organism beginning immediately following death?

5. What is the half-life of the following isotopes: (use the numbers in the online tutorials)

a. 14C

b. 40K

c. 238U

6. Why do you think paleoanthropologists try to get dates for a fossil or a site using several different dating techniques?

7. Why is it a waste of time to fission track date a piece of ancient obsidian (i.e., volcanic glass) that has been recently heated to a molten state?

8. What kinds or categories of materials can each of the following methods date? Be specific.

a. dendrochronology

b. fluorine analysis

c. potassium-argon

d. radiocarbon (carbon-14)

e. fission-track

f. thermoluminescence (TL)

g. electron spin resonance (ESR)

h. paleomagnetic

9. What are the time ranges that each of the following methods can date?

a. dendrochronology

b. potassium-argon

c. radiocarbon (carbon-14)

d. fission-track

e. thermoluminescence (TL)

f. electron spin resonance (ESR)

g. paleomagnetic

10. Why don’t the radiometric techniques give us dates that are unquestionably accurate to within a year?

Define and/or explain the following terms:

1. relative date

2. chronometric date

3. strata

4. stratigraphy

5. principle of superposition

6. geological unconformity

7. principle of association

8. primary context

9. biostratigraphy and index fossil

10. fluorine dating

11. Piltdown Man

12. radiometric dating

13. isotope

14. half-life

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Food for thought:

"Duct tape is like the force.  It has a light side,

and a dark side, and it holds the universe together.”

Carl Zwanzig

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