1. Section 4 Primates & Human Origins
Chapter 43 Mammals
Section 4
Primates & Human Origins

2. Primate Characteristics
Prehensile appendages- hands, feet, and tails can grasp
Large brain- allows for complex skills- interacting socially, parental care, using hands, interpreting visual information
Acute color vision- forward facing eyes for depth perception

4. Primate Characteristics
Generalist teeth- herbivorous and omnivorous diet
Communication- facial and vocal structure
Infant care- infants require care- usually one pair of mammary glands on the chest

6. Primate Characteristics
Manual dexterity- opposable thumbs, flattened nails protect finger pads
Social organization- live in social groups
Characteristic skeletal structure- sit upright, cling to trees

8. Anthropoids
Anthropoid primates- gibbon- New World monkeys, Old World monkeys, apes, and humans
Adaptations: rotating shoulder, elbow joints, opposable thumb- can touch other fingers
Grasping feet

9. New World monkeys- orange Old World monkeys- red

10. Anthropoids
Humans, apes, and Old World monkeys- similar dental structures
Anthropoids have a larger brain structure
Great apes- orangutans, gorillas, chimpanzees, bonobos, and humans

11. Anthropoids
DNA sequence- humans are more closely related to chimpanzee than chimpanzee related to gorilla
DNA & fossil evidence suggest that humans and chimps share a common ancestor
Humans did NOT descend from chimps- evolved from common ancestor

14. Modern Humans Bipedalism- tendency to walk upright on two legs
Bowl-shaped human pelvis
S-shaped spine
Toes are aligned
Large brain, smaller jaw
Apes communicate & humans reason with communication

16. Hominids Hominids- humans and extinct humanlike anthropoid species
Bipedalism
All other primates are quadrupedal

17. Fossil Hominids
Paleontologists & anthropologists (scientists who study humans) found fossil evidence of humanlike species
1974- Afar Valley region of Africa by Donald Johanson and colleagues founded a bipedal fossil of early human ancestor

19. Australopithecines Australopithecus afarensis- “Lucy”
Additional fossils of Lucy have been discovered in the same area
Australopithecines- subfamily

21. Many Hominid Species
1995- Mary Leakey- found Australopithecus afarensis
Similar to Lucy and chimpanzees

23. Humans
Humans- extinct and living members of this genus (Homo)

24. Homo habilis & Homo erectus
1960s- hominid skull- larger brain capacity than Lucy- Homo habilis
Homo erectus- (“upright human”)- brain capacity of 2/3 modern human size- scientists think these were the first humans to travel out of Africa

25. Homo sapiens & Homo neanderthalensis
Neanderthals- Europe & Asia
Lived in caves & made tools out of stone
May have interacted with Homo sapiens
H. Sapiens- first humans- France (first fossil)

26. Modern Humans Mitochondrial DNA suggests humans originated from Africa
Interbreeding of humans helped populate the world full of the human race

27. REVIEW!!!
Identify which characteristics humans share with primates and which are unique to humans.
What kind of evidence shows that chimpanzees are the closest living relatives of humans?