Exam 6: Early Hominids in Africa: Australopithecus and Homo Habilis

Mary Leakey found 2 to 3 sets of hominid footprints at Laetoli.

The term "facultative bipedalism" refers to a transitional period when early hominids used trees as often as the ground.

What happened to the spine when some quadruped group evolved to bipeds?

Early hominids still showed large canines and diastema like hominoids.

The first Australopithecus africanus fossil was contentious as a hominid partly because it was a young child.

Discuss Coppen's evidence for his hypothesis "the East Side Story" of hominid bipedalism.

Only Africa has given up any australopithecine fossils.

Of the following, which best describes a hominid's foot? It is a

Experts predict more species of hominids were in existence during later than during earlier days.

There may have been as many as 20 or as few as 5 hominid species in existence during the last 6 myr.

What new form of thermoregulation had to evolve before bipedal hominids could be successful?

Lumpers tend to prefer the phenetic model of hominid evolution and splitters prefer the cladistic model.

Humans have two more bones than any modern ape species.

Start with the skull and go to the toes, describing the major changes that took place between quadrupedalism to bipedalism in hominid anatomy.

The last ancestral group to the genus Homo is likely to have been

Discuss several reasons why the first Australopithecus africanus (Taung) was not fully accepted by scientists as being in our lineage.

The large muscles that connect the lower jaw to the crest at the top of the skull in all robust australopithecines is likely connected to their diet.

The first A. africanus from Taung (South Africa) was found in 1924 and given only cautious endorsement as a hominid for all of the following reasons EXCEPT

Discuss two of the early hypotheses concerning the origin of bipedalism along with a critique of why they are not likely the cause (but may be an effect) of bipedalism.

Yves Coppens "East Side Story" concerning hominid bipedalism includes all of the following points EXCEPT