Your inner monkey questions

where is your coccyx and why is it present in humans?

base of the spine because our ancestors looked like monkeys with tails

are the monkeys featured in the film new world (platyrrhini) or old world (catarrhini)? how do you know?

new world, squirrel monkeys= distant cousins, deep connection with physical features being dimilar

list at least 3 features found in primates but not present in other mammals

skull shape, eyes facing forward, hands that can grasp things

what is the name of the earliest known primate? when did it live, where was it found?

Notharctus, 50 million years ago, Wyoming

What skeletal features gave it an advantage?

hands and thumbs are divergent, forming an angle with index finger. Can use thumb to climb and bring thumb into opposition with red of digits.

How did color vision evolve? How many colors can most humans see?

Through DNA (eyes rely on special proteins called opsins which can detect color), early primates only had two but with opsin can see much more hundreds of different colors

How many genes do we have that detect smell? Compare our genes to a dog’s genes for smell.

dogs have a thousand genes where their sense is a thousand times better than ours while humans have the same but 600 don’t work

Describe the two fossils that shed the most light on bipedalism

Lucy was 3.2 million years old human ancestor and looked like an ape but walked on two legs while Ardipithecus walked upright while living in woodlands and could grasp on her feet

What are the most obvious consequences of being bipedal? Why do we suffer these consequences?

back pain from unwelcomes inheritance from the monkey’s bad back, weight of our body off-balances the body and creates S shape curve of our back causing pain from pressure, slip discs.

What is the significance of tools in human evolution?

making tools takes excellent vision, fine motor skills (hands), and a brain (cognition)

What is object permanence, and who is better at it, the baby monkey, or the baby human? Why?

understanding that an object still exists even though it cannot be seen, the baby monkey because they have a faster wiring in development in the brain compared to humans

What are the benefits of a long childhood?

the brain is being shaped by the environment and our experiences and by expanding this phase, there is more time to learn and pick up new skills

What are the three parts of all brains?

forebrain, midbrain, and hindbrain

How long ago did the first brains begin to evolve?

500 million ya