HOW AWESOME ARE WE?

WHY ARE WE UNIQUE?  Human success can be attributed to:  The ability to perform complex reasoning  Our ability to learn  The use of sophisticated tools  The ability to communicate

HOW ARE WE UNIQUE?  These abilities required the evolution of:  Our brains  Fine manipulation and coordination  Walking upright thus freeing our hands to use tools

HUMAN PHYLOGENY  HOMO SAPIENS are PRIMATES  PRIMATES: a group of relatively large- brained animals that includes monkeys, apes and prosimians  Characteristics also include forward- directed eyes, flexible hands and feet  Share a common ancestor with PROSIMIANS (e.g. lemurs) and ANTHROPOIDS (e.g. monkeys and apes)

HOMINID  All species descended from the most recent common ancestor of chimpanzees and humans that are on the human side of the lineage  Humans and chips share 98.8% of their DNA  Only 1.6% difference between humans and gorillas

FOSSIL RECORDS  Hip, feet, and leg bones show the evolution of humans walking upright  Skull measurement show the evolution of the larger brain  Remains of tools and burial sites show early human

FOSSIL RECORDS  There are over 20 species of hominids  Records indicate that hominids evolved and lived in Africa and eventually spread out to Europe and Asia  Scientists have been able to sequence the entire Neanderthal genome

EVOLUTION OF HOMO SAPIEN  SCHELANTHROPUS: walking upright  AUSTRALOPITHECUS AFARENSIS: used stone tools  HOMO HABILIS: evidence of increased brain size  HOMO HEIDELBERGENSIS: evidence of cooking  HOMO NEANDERTHALENSIS: linked to the modern man

CULTURAL EVOLUTION  More than 6000 human languages are spoken  Humans engage in artistic endeavours  Human societies have different rituals, customs and belief systems  Fossil evidence suggests that biological evolution and cultural evolution are linked  EXAMPLE: Neanderthals performed burial rituals

BIOLOGICAL VS. CULTURAL  EXAMPLE: Lactose Intolerance  Lactose intolerance evolved as humans domesticated goats, cattle and camels and consumed their milk  Natural selection favoured those individuals who could digest lactose

HUMAN RACE?  Biologically “races” do not exist  There is more diversity WITHIN a racial group than BETWEEN racial groups  The classification of race is CULTURAL

ARE WE STILL EVOLVING?  Evidence suggests that the rate of human evolution has been greater over that past several thousand years  EXAMPLE: Our sense of taste for “rich foods” is “recent”  EXAMPLE: Our use of medication has increased our life span  EXAMPLE: Vitamin D deficiency is widespread as we spend a lot of time indoors