Bio- Your Inner Monkey PDF

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how we are related to monkeys...

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Name: Jillian Barber Date: 4/25/17 “Your Inner Monkey” http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x1zxcbv_your-inner-fish-episode-3-your-innermonkey_shortfilms 1. The first trait talked about in the film that is attributed to our primate origins is our hands, primarily our five digits that contain an opposable thumb. What is the oldest animal fossil that has five digits with an opposable thumb?  Primate skeleton: Notharctus 2. What are “fine branches” skills and who developed them?  These skills make it possible for monkeys to grasp branches with their little hands in order to climb trees  Early primates such as monkeys developed these so they could reach flowers and fruits from the end of branches. 3. The “fine branches” skills would be heightened by a mutation of the gene for the number of “opsins”, proteins in special cells in the back of the eye, in different primates.  Who is Kramer and how many opsins does he have? -Kramer is a colorblind monkey used for scientific testing. He has two opsins that allow him to see color, but he would need a third to see like we do.  How many opsins do humans have? -     What difference does this make in visual abilities? -It determines what range of colors you can see. For example, since Kramer is missing the third opsin that humans have, he is unable to differentiate red from green. 4. A famous “saying” in evolution is: “If you do not use it, you lose it”. To what specific sense is Shubin referring to when he says that in the movie?  He was commenting on our sense of smell and how although we have the same number of genes as a dog to detect odor, a lot of them don’t work anymore. It shows that as the use of color vision increases, the need for smell decreases. 5. Who are the two paleoanthropologists who talk with Shubin and what famous paleo finds are the two anthropologists credited with?  The paleoanthropologist who found Lucy was named Donald C. Johanson  A college student named, Yohannes Haile-Selassie who found Ardi

6. Why is Lucy famous? When was she found? When did she live?  Lucy is a 3.2 million year old human ancestor  Evidence of what early bipeds look like  She walked much like us, yet she wasn’t human.  Told us that our ancestors decided to work on two legs, but not why 7. Why is Ardi famous? When did she live? When was she found?  She tells us when our ancestors started walking on two legs  Ardi is what was found before Lucy, dating back to 4.4 million years ago  A fragment of her hand bone was found in 1994  She shows signs of walking upright while already living in the woodlands, which contradicts what evolution has shown us before  She also has grasping hands that can walk, and has a pelvis like humans but longer, so they can walk and climb 8. The final way we exhibit our primate ancestry is through our brain. In the movie, what concept can a 3 month old macaque master that a 3 month old human cannot? What does this experiment tell us?  Object Permanence: knows an object still exists even when they cannot see it  It shows how fast development has occurred in individual species over time.  It takes longer for a child’s brain to develop cognitively in order for them to fully learn and pick up new skills  This shows we can do things other primates couldn’t 9. What part of the brain is especially developed in humans as compared to other animals?  Frontal lobe 10. What are the 3 main divisions of the brain? And what does our brain have in common with the brain of amphioxus?  The three main divisions of the brain are the forebrain, midbrain and hindbrain.  The amphioxus shows the genetic roots of our complex brains existed in creatures such as itself that arose over 500 million years ago....