Dr Susannah Thorpe Dr Jeremy Pritchard Am I an Ape? Christmas lecture

10s of years

100s of years

1000s of years

1,000,000s of years ago MYA

Human Chimp Gorilla Orangutan Monkey

Human Chimp

Human Australopithecus afarensis Lucy, 3 mya 1st to walk bipedally

Human Homo habilis 2 mya 1 st to use stone tools Australopithecus afarensis Lucy, 3 mya 1st to walk bipedally

Human Homo erectus 1 mya 1 st to make fire & hunt Homo habilis 2 mya 1 st to use stone tools Australopithecus afarensis Lucy, 3 mya 1st to walk bipedally

Dr Susannah Thorpe Dr Jeremy Pritchard Am I an Ape? …….Brains Christmas lecture

Human Chimp H. erectus H. habilis A. afarensis Monkey ancestor

Human Chimp H. erectus H. habilis A. afarensis Monkey ancestor

Graph…………….

Dr Susannah Thorpe Dr Jeremy Pritchard Am I an Ape? …locomotion Christmas lecture

Swinging by its arms Running on its legs We can work out how extinct species moved by studying their humero-femoral index:  length of humerus vs. length of femur

Femur Humerus Humero-femoral index: 70 Measuring your humero-femoral index

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Dr Susannah Thorpe Dr Jeremy Pritchard Am I an Ape? …bipedalism Christmas lecture

 Body shape  Greasy skin  Lots of sweat glands  Less body hair  Body fat  Crying salt tears  Human babies can swim

 Lockable knees  pelvic tilt & valgus angle Chimp and human bipedalism

Dr Susannah Thorpe Dr Jeremy Pritchard Am I an Ape? …footprints Christmas lecture

Summary  Our relationships to other animals follow the same structure as our relationships to human relatives  Humans brains are big, but then so are the other apes  We are the only primate to walk bipedally, but actually there are many similarities to the gait of other apes

Dr Susannah Thorpe Dr Jeremy Pritchard I am an Ape! Christmas lecture