Term
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Definition
The study of the evolution of behavior
-Focuses on relationship between behaviors, the natural environment, and biological traits of the species
-Based on idea that animals, plants, and microorganisms evolved together |
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Term
| Problems with Field Studies |
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Definition
Human Influence
Recognizing individuals |
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Term
| How is behavior influenced by Evolution? |
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Definition
Some behaviors are influenced by genes and are subject to natural selection the same way physical characteristics are
-Individuals with behavioral phenotypes that increase reproductive fitness pass on their genes at a faster rate than others. |
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Term
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Definition
The composition, size, and sex ratio of a group of animals.
Social structures are the results of natural selection in specific habitats, and they influence individual interactions and social relationships. |
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Term
| 10 Factors that influence Primate Social Structure |
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Definition
-Body Size
-Basal Metabolic Rate
-Diet
-Distribution of Resources
-Predation
-Dispersal
-Life Histories
-Distribution and Types of Sleeping Sites
-Activity Patterns
-Human Activity |
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Term
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Definition
| Larger animals are better able to retain heat and their overall energy requirements are less than for smaller animals. |
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Term
| Influence of Basal Metabolic Rate |
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Definition
-Metabolism is the rate at which the body uses energy to maintain bodily functions at a resting state.
-Closely related to body size, smaller animals have a higher BMR than larger animals. |
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Term
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Definition
| Nutritional needs are related to body size and BMR and have evolved together |
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Term
| Influence of Distribution of Resources |
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Definition
-Leaves can be abundant and will support large groups of animals.
-Fruits and nuts occur in clumps. These can be efficiently exploited by smaller groups of animals.
-Some species that rely on foods distributed in small clumps tend to be protective of resources, especially if their feeding area is small enough to be defended. |
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Term
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Definition
| Where predation pressure is high, large communities are advantageous. |
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Term
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Definition
| Individuals who disperse usually find mates outside their natal group, as a result of lowering the competition for mates and decreasing the likelihood for inbreeding |
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Term
| Influence of Life Histories |
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Definition
-Characteristics or developmental stages that influence reproduction rates.
-Length of gestation, interbirth intervals, period of infant dependency, age at weaning or sexual maturity, and life expectancy.
-Influences the way group is organized |
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Term
| Influence of Distribution and Type of Sleeping SIte |
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Definition
-Primate sleeping sites can be in trees or on cliff faces- Gorillas are the only primate that sleeps on the ground
-Spacing can be related to social structure, predator avoidance, and how many sleeping sites are available. |
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Term
| Influence of Activity Patterns |
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Definition
-Most primates are diurnal (galagos, lorises, aye-ayes, tarsiers, and owl monkey are nocturnal)
-Nocturnal species tend to forage alone or in groups of 2-3 |
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Term
| Influence of Human Activities |
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Definition
-Virtually all nonhuman primate populations are impacted by human hunting and forest clearing.
-These activities disrupt and isolate groups, reduce numbers, reduce resource availability, and eventually can cause extinction. |
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Term
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Definition
-Multiple species in the same environment
-Basic to behavioral ecology is exploitation of resources by sympatric species
-Can maximize food access and reduce competition between species |
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Term
| Why be social? (Costs and Benefits) |
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Definition
-Protection from predators through multi-male cooperations or increased surveillance
-COST: increased competition among individuals within group
-Ability to compete with other groups of the same species
-Protection against infanticidal males |
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Term
| What is Primate Dominance? What are the benefits of dominance? |
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Definition
-Impose order by establishing parameters of individual behavior
-Higher-ranking animals have greater access to preferred food and mating partners than lower ranking individuals
-sometimes called “pecking orders.”
-Dominance and subordination are learned
-Subordination and Dominance are learned through gestures and behaviors, some of which are universal throughout the primate order (including humans!) |
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Term
| Factos that influence Primate Dominance |
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Definition
-Sex
-Age
-Aggression
-Time in the group
-Intelligence
-Motivation
-Mother’s social position |
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Term
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Definition
-Displays (chest slapping by gorillas) communicate emotional states
-Vocalizations and branch shaking are examples of deliberate communication.
-Raised body hair is an example of an autonomic response – unintentional behavior that conveys meaning.
-Reassurance is communicated through hugging or holding hands.
-The fear grin, seen in all primates, indicates fear and submission. |
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Term
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Definition
-Conflict arises out of competition for resources, mates and food
-Sometimes aggression is useful in maintaining order and protecting resources.
-Conflict between females may cause some to suffer weight loss and poor nutrition, with lower reproductive success
-Conflict between males may result in injury and death |
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Term
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Definition
-Alliances enhance the status of members.
-Relationships are crucial to nonhuman primates and the bonds between individuals can last a lifetime.
-Includes reconciliation, consolation, and simple amicable interactions between friends and relatives
-Hugging, kissing, grooming, and hand holding |
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Term
| Types of Primate Communication |
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Definition
-Autonomic: unintentional behavior that conveys meaning, such as raised body hair
-Deliberate: Vocalizations and branch shaking |
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Term
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Definition
Common among primates and reinforces social relationships
-Type of affiliation |
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Term
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Definition
-K-selected: Producing only a few young in whom they invest increased parental care
-R-selected: Large numbers of offspring and reduced parental care |
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Term
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Definition
-Type of natural selection that operates on one sex, usually males
-Sexual selection in primates is most common in species in which mating is polygynous and male competition for females is prominent (hamadryas).
-Over the long-term, sexual selection increases the frequency of traits that lead to greater success in acquiring mates.
-Male competition for mates and mate choice in females are both examples of sexual selection. |
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Term
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Definition
-Males increase their chances of reproducing by killing infants fathered by other males
- Individuals maximize their reproductive success, no matter the effect on population or species.
-When an infant dies, its mother resumes cycling and becomes sexually receptive.
-An infanticidal male avoids waiting two to three years for the infants to be weaned before he can mate with their mothers. |
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Term
| Chimps and Baboons as model for early human behavior |
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Definition
-Savanna baboons live in open areas, on the ground, in large multimale/multifemale groups as an adaptive response to predation.
-Proposed that early hominins had a similar social structure.
-Chimpanzees are used as analogues for the development of tool use and competition for social rank. |
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Term
-Index of Encephalization
-Allometry |
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Definition
-The relationship between body and brain size
-Also called scaling, is the differential proportion among various anatomical structures. |
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Term
| Why are primate brains so large? |
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Definition
-Perhaps necessary for food-gathering skills
-Leaf-eating primates have smaller brains
-When seasonal food is available, how to extract foods from shells, hard peels, underground roots
-For social living (the social brain hypothesis)
-Primates must be able to negotiate a complex web of interactions
-Related to meat eating
-Protein and fat would help meet nutritional demands of increasing brain size |
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Term
| How do Vervet Monkeys communicate about predators? |
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Definition
-Specific vocalizations to refer to particular categories of predators.
-The calls are not involuntary and don’t refer to alarm, although the information is conveyed. |
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Term
| Which side of the brain is language located? |
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Definition
| The left hemisphere, in most humans. |
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Term
-Broca’s area
-Wernicke’s area |
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Definition
-Production of spoken language
-Perception of spoken language |
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Term
| Pathway of information used in speech |
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Definition
-Wernicke’s area lies near structures involved in the reception of sound
-Lesion affects language comprehension
-Information is sent to Broca’s area via bundle of nerve fibers
-Broca’s area is located near a region that controls the muscles in the face, lips, larynx and tongue
-Lesion affects language production
-Information is organized for communication and sent to adjacent motor areas that activate muscles involved in speech. |
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Term
| What does the trend for right-handed gestures in apes tell us about the development of human speech production? |
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Definition
| May evidence anatomical basis for the development of left-hemisphere dominance in speech production in humans |
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Term
| Anthropocentric (Definition) |
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Definition
| Viewing nonhuman organisms in terms of human experience and capabilities and emphasizing the importance of humans over everything else |
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Term
-Home Range
-Core Area
-Territory |
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Definition
-Where they remain permanently
-Portion of a home range containing the highest concentration and most reliable supplies of food and water - the area that will most frequently be defended
-The portions of an individual’s or group’s home range actively defended against intrusion, particularly by conspecifics |
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Term
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Definition
-Affiliation, Altruism & Cooperation
-includes assistance, sharing, care giving, and perhaps compassion. |
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Term
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Definition
-Benefits another individual but at some potential risk or cost to oneself
1. Kin selection – genes still passed on
2. Reciprocal altruism – return the favor later
3. Group selection – its to the performer’s
benefit that the group be maintained |
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Term
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Definition
| A pattern of evolution in which the rates of evolution in one functional system vary from those in other systems |
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Term
-Paleoanthropology
-Taphonomy |
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Definition
-the study of ancient humans - reconstructing the anatomy, behavior, and ecology of our ancestors
-The study of the process of sedimentation and formation of a site, and context
-Constructing what an environment may have been like from what it’s like now |
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Term
-Primary context
vs.
-Secondary context |
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Definition
-The setting in which the archaeological trace was originally deposited.
-Setting to which something has been moved (such as by the action of a stream). |
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Term
-Relative dating
vs.
-Chronometric dating |
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Definition
-Whether an object is older or younger than other objects
-(absolute dating) age in years |
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Term
| Environmental Determinism |
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Definition
Links simple environmental changes directly to a major evolutionary shift in an organism.
-This is an oversimplification: keep in mind factors like
temperature, distribution of food and predators, etc. |
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Term
| Why humans became bipedal |
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Definition
-Carrying
-Hunting
-Seed and Nut gathering
-Feeding from bushes
-Thermoregulation
-Visual surveillance
-Long distance walking
-Male Provisioning |
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Term
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Definition
-Basin-shaped pelvis supports internal organs
-Shorter and broader pelvis stabilizes weight transmission from lower back to hip joint |
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Term
| Gluteus Maximus and Hamstring: Bipedally |
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Definition
-Attachment is farther in back on the hip joint than in a chimpanzee standing bipedally.
-Chimpanzees’ hamstrings are farther in back of the knee. |
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Term
| Foramen Magnum: Bipedally |
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Definition
Repositioned farther underneath the skull, so the head is balanced on the spine
-(and thus requires less robust neck muscles to hold the
head upright). |
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Term
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Definition
The spine has two distinctive curves that keep the trunk (and weight) centered above the pelvis
- a backward (thoracic) one
- and a forward (lumbar) one |
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Term
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Definition
-Longer Lower limbs
-The femur is angled inward, keeping the legs more directly under the body
-modified knee anatomy permits full extension of joint |
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Term
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Definition
-Enlarged big toe brought in line with the other toes
-distinctive longitudinal arch helps absorb shock and adds propulsive spring |
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Term
Habitual Bipedalism
vs.
Obligate Bipedalism |
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Definition
-If Bipedalism is standard and most efficient form of locomotion
-If hominines cannot locomote efficiently in any other way |
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Term
| Sahelanthropus tchadensis |
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Definition
- 6 to 7 mya
-Chad, North Africa
-Possibly earliest "human" ancestor
-Reduced braincase ca. chimpanzee 320-380cm3
-Large brow ridges
-Small, vertical face
-Front teeth unlike apes
*Foramen magnum position intermediate between ape and hominin- if it walked bipedally, it was human! |
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Term
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Definition
-4.4 mya
-Ethiopia, East Africa
-300-350 cm3 cranial capacity
-Most complete hominid species ever found
-More primitive than Lucy, oldest ever found
-Bipedal adaptations |
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Term
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Definition
-The first australopith
-3 to 4.2 mya |
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Term
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Definition
-around 3.2 mya
-Hadar, East Africa
-around 3.2 mya
-Dikika, North Africa
-Foot and lower limb indicate bipedalism
-Shoulder and curved fingers suggest climbing
*BIPEDAL with SMALL BRAIN |
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Term
| Paranthropus species and their morphological differences |
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Definition
-Broad cheekbones
-large teeth related to powerful chewing
-Flatter face
-Sagittal crest
-Diet emphasizing rough vegetable foods, possibly some meat |
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Term
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Definition
-<2 mya
-South Africa
Australopith:
-shoulder joint
-long arms with curved fingers
-primitive traits in feet
Homo:
-Smaller teeth
-narrower cheekbones
-less postorbital constriction
-pelvic aspects
-proportionately less robust upper limbs |
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Term
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Definition
-1.8 mya
-“handy man” based on suggested toolmaking capabilities |
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Term
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Definition
Mutations in DNA occur at a generally consistent rate of change
-The amount of difference between two species is proportional to the amount of time since their last common ancestor existed. |
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Term
| Did we develop large brains right after we became bipedal? |
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Definition
| NO! Rapid climate change forced us to adapt quickly and problem solve. |
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Term
| Morphological traits of Homo Erectus |
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Definition
Body size:
->100 lbs, average 5 feet 6 inches
-Sexually dimorphic
-Robust, heavily built
Brain size and crania:
-700 cm3 – 1250 cm3
-thick cranium bone, large brow ridges, little forehead
development
-cranium wider at base, compared with earlier and later
forms
-sagittal keel |
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Term
| Narikotome Boy (AKA Turkana Boy) |
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Definition
-1.7 mya
-the most complete H. erectus specimen yet found
-Adolescent – 8 years old, 5’ 3” tall
-Postcranial bones similar to modern humans
-Cranial capacity ~900 cm3
*Showed humans were beginning to age more slowly: brain was only 75% developed |
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Term
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Definition
-First possible emigrants out of Africa (From Eurasia)
-600 – 780 cm3 cranial capacity
-They have small stature and cranial capacities but yet they have also found stone tools
Similar to other H. Erectus:
-low braincase, wide base, sagittal keeling
Different from other H. Erectus:
-less robust and thinner browridge, projecting lower face, relatively large upper canines |
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Term
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Definition
-where the first erectus find came from in 1891 by Dubois
-these sites show the late occupation of erectus |
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Term
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Definition
Zhoukoudian found in cave in China
-largest collection of erectus finds
-Remains of 40 adults and children, occupied for 250K years |
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Term
| Zhoukoudian Cave Morphological characteristics |
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Definition
-Large browridge, sagittal keel and nuchal torus
-Thick skull bones
-Protruding face, broad near bottom |
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Term
| Zhoukoudian Cave Cultural Practices and Opposing Theories |
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Definition
-choppers and chopping, retouched flakes fashioned into
scrapers, points, burins and awls
-Hunters-gatherers killing deer, horses, and other animals,
supplementing diet with herbs, wild fruits, tubers and eggs
-Use of fire?
Burning of bones occurred after fossilization: the “ash” is
actually natural organic sediment.
-Scavengers, not hunters?
-Remains in cave the result of hyenas?
-Tools in the cave and cut marks on some of the animal
bones provide evidence of hominin activities |
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Term
| H. Erectus sites in Europe |
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Definition
1. Ceprano, Italy
-900,000 to 450,000 ya
2. Atapuerca, Spain
-1.2 mya
3. Dmanisi, Rep. of Georgia
-1.75 mya
*Some want to call them H. Antecessor |
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Term
Oldowan Tools
vs.
Archeulian Tools |
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Definition
-Early H.e used Oldowan tools
-Newer technology = Acheulian tools ca. 1.4 mya
-Acheulian has core worked on both sides, called a biface
(hand axe or cleaver) is flatter, more expedient
-Raw materials for tools transported over longer distances |
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Term
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Definition
-"Hobbit Man"
-Small body and brain, yet had tools and survived for a long time in Indonesia
-Possibly early human species
-Possibly "Island effect" made it small- lack of resources means surviving on less and being smaller |
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