Language

Non-Symbolic Communication:

• §  I found this exercise to be somewhat easy, I did this experiment with my brother and we’re so close we don’t need much speech to communicate with each other anyway. All we needed to do was look at each other or an object and we could understand what the other wanted.
• §  He was confused at first but eventually he just when along with it and it was pretty successful.
• §  I think all cultures are able to express complex ideas, but I think that when it come to people attitude toward others that may use non symbolic language, or may not be able to communicate due to a language barrier, some people become impatient with others. I believe that individuals in the deaf community have a better time communicating using non symbolic language to others that may not speak ASL; they are better at explaining things using gestures.

Non-Physical Communication:

• §  Yes I was able to have a 15-minute conversation using no physical signals. It wasn’t difficult but I realized how much we talk with our hands. But when we use the phone we have no physical movements.
• §  Our conversation wasn’t limited at all by the lack of physical movement at all. And when we talk on the phone we have no problem communicating.
• §  I know how physical people can get when they talk, I know because I come from an east coast family that use their hands more so than other while they talk. I don’t think it’s entirely necessary for communication but I do think it helps people emphases what they are trying to say.
• §  Yes I do think some people are better at reading body language than others. When you read peoples body language you get more from there emotions than what they are actually saying. I’m not really sure what kind of environment where it would be beneficial not to use body language because I think we get a lot more information from people body language.

Downfall of the Piltdown Man

1.)        The Piltdown Man was the discovery of the “missing link”, in East Sussex, England. In the early 1900’s a man named Charles Dawson claims the discovery of the Piltdown fragments in a gravel pit; in December of 1912, the official presentation of the fossilized remains of a preciously unknown early human. These fragments consisted of parts of a skull and jawbone. Dawson worked with a man named Arthur Smith Woodward. Woodward was part of the digging team and found skull fragments and jawbone; he announced that the reconstruction of the fragments had indicated the skull was similar to modern man, except for the occiput, which is right on top of the spinal column. He also stated that the brain size was about two-thirds smaller than modern man and the molar teeth in the jawbone were indistinguishable from a chimpanzee. Dawson and Woodward proposed that the Piltdown man was the missing evolutionary link between apes and humans, supporting the notion that in England, human evolution began with the brain. As early as 1913, people in the scientific community were skeptical of the findings and proposed that the remains possibly being a fossilized ape. It wasn’t until 1953 that the Piltdown man was found a hoax. A fluorine content test established the remains were relatively resent.

2.)        Due to the time of the discovery, every country was in a race to make the greatest discovery of their time. With the way this scenario plays out its seems to me that scientific racism clouded the integrity of the scientist involved with the discovery of the Piltdown man. Woodward himself claiming that in England marked the beginning of human brain evolution. The title of his book “The Earliest Englishman”, shows me that it was more important to them that the discovery was made in England by and Englishman for the pride of England, rather than for the true discovery of the missing link

3.)        From its first findings, scientists were skeptical about the Piltdown find. The suspected that this fossil was inconsistent with the path of hominid evolution as demonstrated by fossils found elsewhere. In 1953 Kenneth Page Oakley, Sir Wilfrid Edward Clark and Joseph Weiner published that the fossil was a composite of three distinct species; a medieval aged skull, five- hundred year old orangutan lower jaw and fossilized chimpanzee teeth. When examined, it was concluded that staining the bones with an iron solution and chromic acid had created the appearance of age. When the remains were examined under a microscope it revealed that the bones had file marks, noting that someone had modified the teeth to give them a shape more suited to a human diet. Concluding that the Piltdown man was a forgery.

4.)        Humans, I would say are bias by nature. Only when you remove the urge to make finding that support your own personal views, can real scientific finding take place.

5.)        That this event was a show of bad character in the scientific community. It discredited science in the eyes of many people for a long time, making a false discovery for personal or nation gain is actually working against what the scientific community is trying to do. But scientists natural skepticism prevailed in time the lie to set things straight.

Primates in Motion

Lemurs:

§  Lemurs live solely in the country of Madagascar. The eastern areas are primarily heavy rainforest and thick foliage, while the western hemisphere is made up of dry regions. The climate is somewhat unstable generating floods and heavy rains. These climate and geographical ups and downs along with poor soil quality, and a lack of sufficient fruit trees, has made lemurs fill many environmental niches.

§  There are a variety of different species of lemur with many different locomotion patterns. Lemurs are anthropoids; their locomotion patterns include: vertical clinging and leaping, fast and slow arboreal quadruped locomotion, and terrestrial quadruped locomotion on all fours. Most species use their long hind legs and catapult themselves into the air, landing in an upright position. When the lemurs jump around they stand upright and hop sideways with their arms help to the side and waving up and down. Another way they lunge around is from swinging around from tree to tree, up to thirty-three feet.

§  The movement of lemurs differs in many ways. Because of the many different environment factors, lemurs have to adapt different ways of moving around; from swinging and climbing trees, to leaping great distances on the ground and walking on all fours. All different adaptions have driven the species to evolve many ways of getting around.

Spider Monkey:

§  Spider monkeys live in the tropical rainforests of central and South America, from southern Mexico to Brazil. They live in the upper layers of the rainforest and find their food in the high canopy; they require large areas of moist evergreen and prefer an undisturbed territory.

§  In comparison to their body size, they have disproportionately long, spindly limbs and a long flexible tails, which helps their arboreal traits. When they walk, their arms drag low and do not use their arms for balance, but instead relying on their tail for support. Their hands are long, narrow and hook like, which corresponds to their arboreal lifestyle.

§  Because of the strict habitat of heavy foliage and trees, the spider monkey has had to adapt to using their tail for many purposes such as clinging, balancing and swinging. Making it ideal for their environment.

Baboon:

§  There are many different species of baboon all belonging to the subfamily Cercopithecinae. They are the largest of the non- hominoid primates and can only be found in Africa and Saudi Arabia. They can be found in the desert and forested areas, as well as modern urban settings.

§  Baboons move on the ground quadrupedally, in the form of knuckle walking on all fours just like gorillas and chimpanzees.

§  Because the Baboon can adapt to life in the forest, desert or city; climbing and being able to walk on all fours is ideal for this species. It gives them the advantage of being able to cover large areas of ground in a shorter amount of time, making it ideal for finding food and collaborating in a social group.

Gibbon:

§  Gibbons live in tropical and subtropical rainforests in northeastern India, Indonesia and China, including Sumatra, Borneo and Java.

§  Gibbons primary mode of locomotion is brachiating, swinging from branch to branch quite proficiently, up to fifty feet, at speeds of thirty-five mph. when walking on the ground somewhat upright with their arms raised for balance, leaping on the ground similar to lemurs

§  In the forested areas of India and China, swinging from branch to branch covering long distances and high speeds, allows these moneys to inhabit large areas of their environment.

Chimpanzee:

§  There are two existing species of chimp, one from the Congo rainforest and the other from the forests of west and central Africa.

§  Both species are proficient at moving in and out of the trees. They have long powerful arms for climbing trees and move on the ground quadrupedally, in the form of knuckle walking on all fours. A chimps feet are suited for walking because their soles are broader and their toes are shorter. They can walk upright and display this when carrying objects.

§  Chimps, being the closest related to Humans, have adapted the ability to walk upright. They still climb trees and walk on all fours, but it gives us a great insight to what early humans started out doing,

Summary:

§  Based on what I have found, all these primates listed above have similar traits. All from swinging in trees for walking upright. Each primate has a different environmental factor causing the species to adapt to different locomotion’s and social patterns. Primates from the more heavily forested areas are more adapted for tree climbing and the others in less forested and desert areas tent to swing between tree climbing and walking in some form. Also, other species of primate may have caused some species to dwell on the ground and others to dwell in the high canopy, all filling a different niche.

Homologous vs Analogous

1.)           Homologous

-       When you look at a penguin and a pigeon, the similarities between them are hard to see. These animals are homologous because they inherited their traits from the same ancestors. Penguin’s biggest difference from the pigeon is that they do not fly, although penguins have wings they do not fly.

-       Everything from the way they live, eat, and raise their young is different. But the structure of their bodies shoe similarities. The wing structure looks different and even has various different functions but overall they share the same ancestor and have inherited wings.

-       The common ancestor of these two species must have needed wings due to some evolutionary drive. But these two species have evolved into completely different animals.

2.)           Analogous

-       Two species that’s would be considered analogous, would be the pigeon and a dragonfly. Bothe has to ability to fly but have evolved this trait completely separate from each other.

-       Both species have to capability to fly; however the shape appearance, structure and function are very different. The pigeon’s wings have feathers and are able to fly typically in one direction with the body being used for direction. In the dragonfly the wing shape is different, they have four wings that are made up of veins and can fly in every direction, even backwards

-       These two species may have come from the same ancestors billions of years ago but the two developed the ability to fly completely separately.

Decode This Sentence

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Darwins Influences

1§  Out of all of Darwins influences I believe that Lyell had the most influence over Darwins work. Lydell work of the coral reef inspired Darwin to conduct his own research, which later lead to his work on evolution.

http://www.aboutdarwin.com/people/people_01.html#0140

§  Lydells Principles of Geology provided a theory that the earth formed slowly rather than over a short period of time

http://anthro.palomar.edu/evolve/evolve_1.htm

§  Because of Lyell’s, Darwin, at one point decided to research the similarities between different species and improve upon his then hypotheses on evolution. Also, the fact that Darwin researched the ever changing Earth could made Darwin curious about how the organisms and life survived in a different environment over thousands and millions of years.

§  I believe that Darwin needs his background work in the evolution of geology to complete his work on natural selection. The fact that the Earth is always changing means that food sources and availability is constantly changing. In order to survive, animals must be able to reach these food sources and thus constantly changing. Natural selection allows for the advancement and survival of the organisms best suited to survive in the constantly changing environments.

§  The church in Darwin’s time did not approve of his work but did not stop him. At that time it was not common practice to look to science to explain the wonders of the world or to provide answers about the life on Earth. He was afraid of being attacked by the church for his ideas and hesitated to publish his work.