Question

A115/A140: Study Packet for The Story of the Human Body.Part .by Daniel Leiberman Sp 19 of the Human Body, Ch. 1-Introduction: What are Humans Adapted For? READ Introduction and, as a study project, trace the evolutionary history and adaptive significance of each of the following foundational adaptations, adaptive patterns that we modern humans have inherited from our n Hearing System (focus on the evolution of the mammalian hearing system Human Vision System (stereoscopic, trichromatic color vision) The Modern Human Brain (with full perceptual and cultural capacity-what has been called the "Human Spark") The Human Hand (with long, strong opposable thumb, short, stubby fingers, nails backing tactile pads with dermatoglyphs, precision grip, power grip, etc.) The Human Locomotor Adaptation (bipedal locomotion, relatively long legs adapted to long distance walking (foraging) and running (power scavenging, persistent hunting) Skin (biggest organ in human body: millions of sweat glands, sparse surface hairs, pigmentation, subcutaneous vascularization, subcutaneous fat deposition, etc.) The "Human Spark" (modern humans with evidence of full cultural capacity, symbolic consciousness, language, , storytelling, a mythic imagination, music, song, dance, graphic and plastic arts, etc.) Ch 2 -Understanding Apes: How We became Bipeds and bonobos the beginnings of an adaptive shift to functional bipedalism along with larger, thicker pe-like C3 forest a I. Last Common Ancestor of humans, c vertical incisors, diamond shaped canines in st and woodland diet. At least adults of both Group (Africa, 6-4 Ma) includes species of Il. The Ardipithecus enameled molars, smaller front teeth (smaller, more sexes). These "dawn" hominins still maintain a largely a Ardipithecus ramidus retained a grasping or far are adapted to diets dominated by fruits, leaves, and other C3 plant woodland habitats. White and Lovejoy (2009) maintain Ardipithecus r terrestrial, foraging pattern with large home ranges but still maintained a largely a significant amount of arboreal foraging for both fruit and more fibrous ape a Some specimens show tree climbing; all species known so opposable big toe for effective products gathered in forest t acquired via a pe-like C "fallback" foods like leaves, pith, and inner bark. Ch. 3 - Much Depends on Dinner: How the Australopiths Partly Weaned us Off Fruit ill The Australo it cus group (Africa 4-13 Ma) includes species of hominins ranging from the relatively gracile Paranthropus robustus, to the ultra robust and hyper-megadont known, these through the somewhat more megadont Australopithecus, to the robust and megadont boisel. Where post-crania are early hominins had relatively short legs, longs arms, but at least some were apparently true bipeds toes, a strong heel strike and a longitudinal arch (best evidence is from the Laetoli of saying, "BIG CHEWERS, SMALL THINKERS" with large to with footprint trackways). They were also, as I am fond ). thick enameled cheek teeth (premolars and molars), small, vertical incisors, in the small, non-honing canines, incorporated into incisor functional unit, while cranial capacities were typically i "ape" range (averaging around 400 550 cc's). These ancient bipeds were adapted to foraging in woodland savanna mosaic habitats and for chewing resistant foods like fibrous stems, grasses, sedges, tubers, roots, bulbs (USO's), as well as some "ground meat". The australopiths have experienced a niche expansion including an adaptive shift from a C3 forest derived diet (typical of modern great apes) to a mixed C3/C4 ) diet beginning about 4 Mya. Stable isotope analysis confirms an adaptive shift to a mixed CUC4 diet had occurred among some australopiths by about 3.79 Ma. This dietary shift started with early s expanding its dietary range from a mostly C3 fruit, soft leaf, and nut diet to one that includes more ape "fall back" foods including stems, pith, inner bark plus some C4 foods like grass and sedge stems, roots, tubers, and bulbs (USO's), and probably occasional ground meat, marrow, etc. from small animals killed or scavenged from large carnivore (lions, hyaenas, leopards, etc.) kills. No evidence of stone tools associated with this group. Ch. 4 The First Hunter-Gatherers: How Nearly Modern Bodies Evolved in the Human Genus IV. The Early Homo Group (including species like Homo habilis, Homo ergaster, H. erectus,H This group is present in Africa by about 2.5 Mya, and the range expands to include parts of southern Eurasia b 1.8 Mya. The species of this group e and tooth size, and the evolution of hands and feet of modern p and shorter legs typical of the australopiths while others take on more modern proportions. Anatomical changes to the hands and feet occur in conjunction with an increase in the utilization of simple pebble and flake tools likely used to obtain and process both a mixed diet of C3 and C4 foods, such as some fruit, leaves, pith, inner bark, seeds, nuts, stems, roots, tubers (USO's), and, in some cases, the meat, marrow, and/or fat obtained from scavenged or hunted C4 animals. This varied diet of early Homo was likely obtained by foraging in a variety of wooded, open, and perhaps swampy habitats. georgicus, etc.) show evidence of an increase in relative brain size, a decrease is relative fac roportions. Some species retain the longer arms Some members of this group show evidence of a notable adaptive shift to a more modern human body size anc proportions, including larger brain (often averaging 1,000 cc's), larger body, longer legs for endurance runnin adapted to a hunting and gathering subsistence pattern including significant amount of (persistence?) hunting power scavenging of big game focusing on obtaining the tissues of larger mammals, probably obtained by sm groups in more open habitats and carried back to a home base for shared processing and consumption by gro members. The development of large biface (Acheulean) technology allows more efficient processing of both plant and animal foods. These changes signal the beginnings of 1) hunting of ground meat 2) division of labo (males hunt, forage more widely, females gather) 3) cooperative food processing (using stone tools) 4) the sharing of food (including meat, other animal products, USO's, other plant foods), all patterns unique to the human adaptive strategy h. 5 Energy in the Ice Age: How We Evolved Big Brains Along with Large, Fat, Gradually Growing Bodies iddle Pleistocene Hominins: This group includes various archaic humans species that controlled fire such as no heidelbergensis, Neanderthals, Denisovans, Homo sapiens idaltu, and other closely related "archaic" or Homo odern human forms. An array of Middle and Late Pleistocene hominins, often referred collectively in texts pre-m as archaic Homo sapiens, though we now know from analysis of fossil DNA from numerous Neanderthals, early modern Homo sapiens, Homo heidelbergensis from Atapuerca, Spain, Denisova Cave, etc. that there were several distinct variants (species?) of hominins that co-existed and interbred, at least occasionally, over the last several hundred thousand years. These archaic hominins show larger brains than Homo erectus (averaging 1200 cc's), along with more sophisticated prepared core and bifacially worked stone tools (usually referred to as Middle Paleolithic (Europe) or Middle Stone Age (Africa). Hominins in this group also show archaeological evidence of the controlled use of fire by about 800,000 ybp. Controlling fire gave hominins access to the vast amounts of energy stored in plant tissues (cellulose, lignin, etc.). Fire can be used to keep warm, for cooking, which also reduces the amount of potentially harmful pathogens in animal and plant products), for discouraging predators, as a light source (at night, in caves, etc.), for heating wood and stone, to make better tools, for game drives, and for many other utilitarian activities. Ch. 6 A Very Cultured Species: How Modern Humans Colonized the World with a Combination of Brains (sophisticated technology, language, art, spirituality, domesticated dogs) plus Brawn VI. Anatomically Modern Homo sapiens-This group includes all modern Homo sapiens cult Typically, these show evidence of life phase extension, a fully modern cultural and creative capacity, a more complex and diverse diet, symbolic consciousness, a penchant for cultural mythic imagination, plus an inc Members of this group possessed extended life phases, es refinement period. There is also evidence of exceptional innovation and creativity, empowered change powered by an over-active lination among young to rebel against the "old ways" by each new generation. pecially a "teens and twenties" brain maturation and by the presence of ritual prescriptions for mating and family organization, weapons making. hunting, burials and other rites of passage, division of labor, food sharing, as well as prescriptive formulas for food preparation, healing, etc. which, acting in combination, allowed modern humans to both occupy nearly all available habitats and to dominate and to disrupt ecosystems across the entire planet.

Answer 1

a. In humans and other vertebrates,hearing is performed primarily by theauditory system: mechanical waves, known as vibrations are detected by the ear and transduced into nerve impulses that are perceived by the brain (primarily in the temporal lobe)

b.

A human visual system model is used by image processing, video processing and computer vision experts to deal with biological and psychological processes that are not yet fully understood. Such a model is used to simplify the behaviours of what is a very complex system.

c.

The human brain is the command center for the human nervous system. It receives signals from the body's sensory organs and outputs information to the muscles. The human brain has the same basic structure as other mammal brainsbut is larger in relation to body size than any other brains.

d.A hand is the part of the body at the end of an arm. Most humans have two hands. Each handusually has four fingers and a thumb. ... When the fingers are all bent tightly, the hand forms a fist. The joints that are the hardest part of the fist are called knuckles.

f.The human skin is the outer covering of the body and is the largest organ of the integumentary system. The skin has up to seven layers of ectodermal tissue and guards the underlying muscles, bones, ligaments and internal organs.

g.