...lived between 3.9 and 2.9 million years ago. Donald Johanson and his co-workers were very happy and did not sleep that night. They had been playing the Beatle’s song Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds over and over again at their camp. So I had been named Lucy and gave more insight to the evolution of humans and apes. The scientists are not really sure about what I was; human or ape. I had a low forehead, a bony ridge over the eyes, a flat nose, no chin, more humanlike teeth, pelvis and leg bones that resembled those of modern man. My body was smaller than my male friends and the relationship of sexual dimorphism and social group structure was like a modern ape. My father had a number of wives and lived in family groups. It was not like then gorillas; more sexually dimorphic than humans or chimpanzees. Scientists assume I lost of an abductable great toe and the ability to grasp with the foot and was no longer adapted to climbing. My fingers and toe bones were curved and longer than the modern human. I am classified as an ape, not a human. It is a Hominid, which is an ape closely related to human beings. My body size, brain size and skull shape is similar to a chimpanzee but I also have some human characteristics like...
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...men and boys, rape the women and girls, and poison the wells. Their goal is to replace these African peoples with Arab herders.” In the Democratic Republic of Congo the dead range from three to five million. (Genocide Watch) This type of violence is occurring as I write this paper. Syria, Sudan, and the Democratic Republic of Congo are all male dominated cultures. The book Demonic Males, by Richard Wrangham and Dale Peterson, makes a strong case that human violence, especially in males, is biological. Wrangham and Peterson do a nice job presenting evidence of our link to the great apes. The authors also prove that apes are capable of premeditated acts of violence. Psychologists believe human behavior is 50 percent biology and 50 percent culture while traditional conception of human behavior maintains that people are good or bad, depending on familial and cultural influences. When people do bad things, it is because they came from a dysfunctional family, or they have psychological issues. When culture is responsible for violent acts, a traditional conception is that the culture has the wrong belief system. This culture’s belief system is wrong because it differs from the norm. The norm depends on the culture doing the judging. I believe that human violence is both biological and cultural. Charles Sibley and Jon Ahlquist, two Yale Biologists, provided evidence through DNA analysis that placed humans “right inside the great ape group. This extraordinary idea, if true, would demolish...
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...and behavior of these human-like primates. This essay in particular seeks to bring to the light the biology and behavior of the mountain gorilla, and by the end also attempt to show the reasons and attempts to conserve this critically endangered species of primates. The mountain gorilla is considered one of the biggest primates in terms of physical attributes. The classification of this type of gorilla is very direct. Under the kingdom Animalia, the taxonomy flows to phylum Chordata, then subphylum Vertebrata, then class Mammalia and then its specific order Primates. The family is Hominidae, which is the same family as human beings, thus explaining the similarity in some attributes. This family also houses the chimpanzees and orangutans. The Hominidae are characterized by the existence of thumbs and also relatively big toes, of course excluding human beings. Further, they have well developed forearms for holding things and relatively longer legs for locomotion. More often than not, this family is confused with the family Hylobatidae which houses the apes and gibbons. However, the distinctive difference is the fact that Hominidae do not have a tail and their denture is more developed. Their teeth structure is very unique due to the presence of canines that have been known to develop into some form of tusks, and incisors are very broad to accommodate their feeding habits and diets. (Lanjouw, 2008). Down the classification tree, these primates are under the genus Gorilla. According...
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...WHEN GUESTS ARRIVE AT THE YERKES Regional Primate Research Center in Georgia, where I work, they usually pay a visit to the chimpanzees. And often, when she sees them approaching the compound, an adult female chimpanzee named Georgia will hurry to the spigot to collect a mouthful of water. She'll then casually mingle with the rest of the colony behind the mesh fence, and not even the sharpest observer will notice anything unusual. If necessary, Georgia will wait minutes, with her lips closed, until the visitors come near. Then there will be shrieks, laughs, jumps-and sometimes falls-when she suddenly sprays them. I have known quite a few apes that are good at surprising people, naive and otherwise. Heini Hediger, the great Swiss zoo biologist, recounts how he-being prepared to meet the challenge and paying attention to the ape's every move-got drenched by an experienced chimpanzee. I once found myself in a similar situation with Georgia; she had taken a drink from the spigot and was sneaking up to me. I looked her straight in the eye and pointed my finger at her, warning in Dutch, "I have seen you!" She immediately stepped back, let some of the water dribble from her mouth, and swallowed the rest. I certainly do not wish to claim that she understands Dutch, but she must have sensed that I knew what she was up to, and that I was not going to be an easy target. Now, no doubt even a casual reader will have noticed that in describing Georgia's actions, I've implied human qualities...
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...lived between 3.9 and 2.9 million years ago. Donald Johanson and his co-workers were very happy and did not sleep that night. They had been playing the Beatle’s song Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds over and over again at their camp. So I had been named Lucy and gave more insight to the evolution of humans and apes. The scientists are not really sure about what I was; human or ape. I had a low forehead, a bony ridge over the eyes, a flat nose, no chin, more humanlike teeth, pelvis and leg bones that resembled those of modern man. My body was smaller than my male friends and the relationship of sexual dimorphism and social group structure was like a modern ape. My father had a number of wives and lived in family groups. It was not like then gorillas; more sexually dimorphic than humans or chimpanzees. Scientists assume I lost of an abductable great toe and the ability to grasp with the foot and was no longer adapted to climbing. My fingers and toe bones were curved and longer than the modern human. I am classified as an ape, not a human. It is a Hominid, which is an ape closely related to human beings. My body size, brain size and skull shape is similar to a chimpanzee but I also have some human characteristics like...
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...Mid-life Crisis in Apes Introduction At middle age, a giant chimp would neither deceive his spouse nor purchase a red sports car on urge. However, studies have discovered that apes and orangutans face midlife problems just as certainly as humans beings do. Those discoveries, which were published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, might upset tightly held faiths regarding the origins of human pleasure and the forces that cause impact on its peculiar route across the span of life (Jaques, 2002). If relatives of animals share human proclivity for grief, removal and irritation at the midpoint of life, most probably the midlife problem is in fact lead by biological reasons — not the exhausting liabilities of works and family and the genesis identity of our humanity (Franklin, 1999). The experience of chimpanzees dip in pleasure in their mid-age, much in the manner human beings do, recommending a biological interpretation for the midlife problem. Across several traditions, human beings inform a plunge in pleasure throughout their late-40s, a period when they usually sense less contented with their lives in comparison to their older and younger years. Chimpanzees also go through a type of midlife problem, discovered a new study. The astonishing outcome recommends that the blues of middle-age might be an outcome of biology, not tradition, and its evolutionary origins run profound (Ayers, 2008). The main reason for dividing the main body of this research paper...
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...posture, flexible or generalized limb structure, prehensile hands, which all play a role in the environment they live in. Primates also have a unique diet as well as teeth structure. They do not have dietary specialization meaning they eat a wide variety of foods making them omnivores. They also lack generalized detention due to their dietary specialization. The senses and the brain of the primates include color vision, depth perception, different eye placement that is used for different reasons to help them adapt to their living environment, decreased reliance of their sense of smell, and expansion and increased complexity of the brain. Maturation, loving, and behavior is the next category defining primates. They offer more efficient means of fetal development and gestation period, greater development of learned behavior, the ability to live in different types of social groups, as well as the tendency towards different types of activity patterns. Geography and location is very important when studying anything, but in this case, primates. The New World is considered to include Mexico, Central America, and parts of South America, while the Old World includes Africa, India, Southeast Asia, and Japan. The diet and teeth of primates is also a very important aspect to look at. The most common foods they intake while eating include nuts, fruits, seeds, leaves, insects, and other plant materials. They do kill other primates if they are small enough to eat and kill. The advantage of having...
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...they are to be given equal consideration and limited basic rights such as the right not to suffer from cruel treatment (i.e. in medical experiments). To argue otherwise would be speciesism, which can be defined as a prejudice towards the interests of one's own species and against those of members of other species. Main points as to why apes can be defined as persons: 1. Some scientists have linked the 5 great apes into 1 biologically similar group (chimpanzees, gorillas, orangutans, bonobos, and humans). Humans are just another type of ape. Humans and chimpanzees are 99% identical genetically (in respects to blood type, brain structure) and they demonstrate identical behavior for the first three years. 2. According to Kant, humans are self-conscious and rational, whreas animals are not and that is why we have no direct duties to animals themselves, but rather only to humans. However scientists have found that all 5 apes (this includes humans) are self aware and morally aware, as displayed in behavior. For example, if you place a dot on a chimpanzee, they are able to recognize that and realize it does not belong. This shows that they are self aware. Moreover, by observing Kanzi, the bonobo, we can see human like characteristics. For example, Kanzi is able to understand and carry out simple instructions such as starting a fire by using sticks and a lighter. He understand grammar and sentence structure by being able to differniate between sentences such as "turn off the...
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...CONTEXT Crucial difference that distinguishes humans from animals is LAUNGUAGE. Noam Chomsky humans have a special part of the brain that allows us biologically to learn language automatically. This explains why human cultures all over the word have language and why children develop so quickly. HAYES AND HAYES work with a chimpanzee called Vicki. Aimed to teach her vocal language in 6 years Vicki learnt 4 sounds English words. MAMA PAPA CUP AND UP BRYAN vocal apparatus of a chimpanzee different from humans. Chimpanzee capable making different sounds vocalisation tends to occur situations of stress or excitement when chimpanzees are often quiet. Gardner and Gardner identified vocal language wasn’t appropriate. YERKES laboratory chimpanzees capable spontaneously developing begging and similar behaviours using there hands to manipulate but also solve problems. Using their hands particular skill that could form sign language. AIM Investigate teach chimpanzee to communicate using American sign language they used a chimpanzee because there intelligent, sociable and have strong attachments’ to humans. PROCEDURE The methodology used for G+G was a longitude case study; Washoe was an female at the age of 8-14 months. Washoes interactions were similar to a child as washoe had built a daily routine and built a relationship for those who cared for her. Washoes was taught American Sign Language. Washoe was trained by DIRECT INSITUTION, USING SIGNS, PROMPTING, IMITATION, BABBLING...
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...discover and state that human beings and primates had shared a common ancestor and “still have much behavior in common” with them (Small M. 1992, pg. 97). In fact, a journalist named Dan Falk had written in the Crux about a few similarities chimps share with humans, saying that they are very clever creatures who are able to communicate through “vocalizations, as well as hand gestures and facial expressions” and can use “sticks and rocks as tools” (Falk, 2014). These similarities show that they do have intelligence that brings them closer to humans, as intelligence is what deemed humans superior. This is one reason why anthropomorphizing primates is discouraged, because according to Small, humans want to be seen as ‘unique’, but since primates demonstrate high intelligence, it makes humans “appear less unique” (Small M. 1992, pg. 97). The similarities between primates and humans are further explored in observations of how ape species interact with each other A biologist named Karen Strier had also observed a species of monkeys called muruquis and made note of how cooperative they were among each other, as males never fought each other for mates and shared their food. At the end of her research, Strier came to the conclusion that traits such as “flexibility, tolerance, cooperation and affection” as well as “aggressiveness, competition and selfishness” are the roots of primate social behavior, and humans were included are recognized the most as human qualities (Kemper S. 2013, pg. 3-6)...
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...Chimpanzees One of the the four ape species that professor Stanford discusses in his book, Planet Without Apes, is the chimpanzee. Chimpanzees can be found throughout the continent of Africa; they are primarily located in rain forests, but can also be found inside open woodlands or areas where trees and brush are present. Chimpanzees live in fission-fusion societies, which means that there community breaks apart for some part of the day, before coming back together as a single whole group for the rest of the time. In the chimpanzee community, males are known to never leave the place in which they were born and raised; while females are known to emigrate during or right after puberty. One of the biggest problems concerning chimpanzees is deforestation. Deforestation kills chimpanzees and separates many others from their communities, leading to territorial conflicts. As it is known, chimpanzees are very territorial animals who often fight against neighboring communities for territory. Deforestation tears down the communities of chimpanzees which forces them to move out and find new homes. While looking for a new place to live, chimpanzees will often times fight because there will be other chimpanzees residing in the territory which they are trying to move into. The other issue with deforestation is it leads to problems with genetic flow. Female chimpanzees are supposed to emigrate from their communities during or after they hit puberty to breed. If deforestation is killing...
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...Extinction of Great Apes The great apes are humankind’s closest relatives. Great apes include gorillas, chimpanzees, orangutans, and bonobos, which are also known as pygmy chimps. At the turn of the century, there were approximately one million chimpanzees in Africa. This number has declined down to 150,000. Mountain gorillas have halved in size over the last ten years, leaving only 320 to roam the trees of their homeland. Some say these great apes will face extinction within a decade. Why is this the case and should we let this happen? These apes lose areas of habitat on a daily basis. They are also constantly slaughtered for meat and body parts. These two enormous contributors of great ape depletion are just unnecessary additional threats to the existence of our relatives. We must not forget that there is also disease and environmental catastrophes that kill off these intelligent human-like primates. Humans share up to 98% of their DNA. This makes the great apes a very valuable and important subject for study. There is a lot we can learn from them. Because we are so closely related, this may also be a link to global extinction. Perhaps a more thorough evaluation of each of the factors which contribute to the depletion of the four great apes may help to understand how damaging and unnecessary this depletion has become for them, as well as for us. One of the most influential causes for the mass decline in great apes is due to habitat loss. Habitat loss includes the clearing...
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...chimpanzees had the ability to teach their young valuable skills such as using tools to crack open nuts. Boesche (1991) found that; “Chimpanzee mothers may influence the development of nut cracking in three ways (excluding the very widespread nut sharing): (1) stimulating; and (2) facilitating nut cracking; and (3) active teaching. Mothers can stimulate nut cracking by leaving hammers or nuts near the anvil” Humans are always teaching their children valuable skills to help in their survival, just as chimpanzee mothers did. There has also been evidence that Australopithecines evolved to make sharp stone tools for other food preparation (Benton, 2013). Another trait we share with the Great Apes is relationships between females. Mountain gorillas have been shown to show more aggression to females they associate with less in the group. Marshian and Nashida (1996) discovered that “Maternal relatives are close associates and often interact affinitively. Serious aggression between them is rare....
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...Animal vs human language Arbitrariness Human: * There is no natural connection between a word’s form and its meaning * A written word does not look like its meaning. Animals: * Animal communicative sounds are closely correlated with their meanings. * An animal’s „vocabulary“ is finite and limited. Displacement * Humans can talk about the past, present or future. * Humans can talk about things that don’t exist or we can’t see. * Animal communication is about the here and now. * Animals can’t displace in either time or space. Productivity * Human vocabulary and sentences are infinite and open-ended: We can create new words in our Lexicon in unlimited combinations. „Colourless green ideas sleep furiously“ (Noam Chonsky). * We have a morphology and a grammar which allows us to combine new words in new structures. Cultural Transmission * We acquire our speech from the environment we are raised in, our culture, which includes our language, our accent and our expressions. A meow is a meow wherever because it is instinctual, inborn. Some birds are born with some calls and songs instinctually and some are learned. 7 week window for birds: If birds are not exposed to bird song in the first 7 weeks, they will still produce songs, but abnormal ones. Song-singing is instinctual. 7 years window for children: If a child is not exposed to language within the first 7 years, it will develop...
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...World monkeys and catarrhines incorporate Old World monkeys, gorillas, and people. All New World monkeys are arboreal and live in the woods of Central and South America, while Old World monkeys incorporate both earthly and arboreal species. New world monkeys wandered from Old World monkeys around 30 million years back. New World monkeys have numerous remarkable attributes. Their teeth are organized as two incisors, one canine, three premolars, and three molars in every quadrant of the mouth. They have wide noses with round nostrils that open outward. New World monkeys have prehensile (getting a handle on) tails and Old World monkeys don't. Old World monkeys have characteristics that vary from New World monkeys. The teeth of Old World monkeys are composed as two incisors, one canine, two premolars, and three molars in every quadrant, which is an indistinguishable game plan from human teeth. They have limit noses with their nostrils pointing descending. Old World monkeys have either long or short non-prehensile tails. Old World monkeys have trademark anatomical specializations, including calluses on their posteriors for sitting on hard, intense tree limbs or the ground for long eras. Old World monkey females experience obvious estrus, substantial swellings around the genitalia telling guys that they are ovulating. Sexual dimorphism is by all accounts more predominant in Old World monkeys, particularly in the earthbound species....
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