Lab 2
The purpose of this lab is to provide you with necessary tools to understand the evolution of primates, particularly humans. As you go through the next segment of the class, you will be discussing many of the traits we have mentioned in our examination of non-human primates, but you will see how they play out in the development of our hominid ancestors and those of our relatives, the apes.
You should:
be able to identify many of the cranial traits on specimens in the lab and in your readings.
understand the importance of these to our evolution.
be able to identify several of them in your own body and be able to assess some of them in the bodies of others.
Exercise 1:
Go through the PowerPoint materials for this lab on your own after you have gone through them in class with Dr. Zimmerman.
Prepare your own list or chart of the major features shown on the PowerPoint. Use diagrams if it helps. Turn in your list.
Exercise 2:
In a public place, preferably indoors where outerwear is minimal, make observations of key anatomical traits (range of motion in bipedalism, range of ruggedness or visibility of the supraorbital torus, prognathism, zygomatic arch, range of size of head & brain case, sexual dimorphism, and other traits as you notice them). Observe about 50 people of both sexes. You may wish to make a chart of these observations. Write a short (1 page) essay about your observations. Turn in both the chart and essay