Human Variation

1.  When the human body experiences episodes of extreme cold, things can get very quickly dangerous.  The human body regulates temperature at an ideal 98.6 degrees fahrenheit, plus or minus one degree depending on the person.  Whenever this temperature drops below 94 degrees the body will begin to experience hypothermia, which can quickly lead to death.

2.  Obviously many people do live in these extremely cold climates and therefore have needed to adapt in various ways.  A short term adaptation to the cold weather is for the body's muscles to shiver therefore producing a little extra heat.  A facultative adaptation is the increase of fat in and around the torso's vital organs in order to better insulate.  A developmental adaptation to the extreme cold is the tendency for populations in these areas to have short compact bodies to help keep in body heat.  Lastly, a cultural adaptation is the practice of families to sleep in compact groups side by side to reduce the amount of heat lost during the night.  

3.  The benefit of studying human adaptation across clines helps us realize that race is just a fabricated way of classifying people.  This information can be helpful to us by showing that race is merely the specific adaptations of the human in very different environments.  These specific adaptations over time have created  phenotypic differences to help them survive.  

4.  Similar to the last question, I can now see race as basically just a human variation and nothing more than that.  Sure we have our own separate cultures and practices but we are the same human as everyone else.  Race is just a way to classify a certain look of humans which is fine, but nothing should come of that classification.  

  

Language

            The first part of this experiment involving no language I found to be extremely hard.  It was nearly impossible to communicate other than simple yes, no, and I don’t know answers.  My partners in the conversation also had a lot of difficulty gaining any useful information from my attempts at communicating.  They changed from their usual conversation to simply asking a lot of yes and no questions at which I could nod accordingly.  If I had acted like we were two foreign cultures meeting for the first time, I’m sure nothing would have been understood.  Considering I wouldn’t know a word of “their” spoken language we most likely would have shaken hands or something of the like and parted ways.  The spoken language has a much higher advantage in communicating complex ideas, but that won’t do you much good if the party you are trying to tell these ideas doesn’t speak your language.   In this case, the spoken language culture will probably not think very highly of the more primitive culture and split up from them.  Individuals in our culture, whom cannot speak such as the deaf and dumb, don’t seem to have any problem when using the ASL system.  The ASL is capable of communicating any complex idea that spoken language is capable of perfectly fine.  At my previous employer we had a deaf customer whom came regularly and would simply write her orders down on a little notepad. 

             For the second part of the experiments where we could strictly communicate with speech and nothing else, I didn’t have quite as much trouble as the first.  Other then trying to keep the smiling to a minimum, staying monotone and restricting the urge to use motion was fairly simple.  My partners weren’t necessarily affected in any way other then me sounding a little strange and boring.  We were still able to communicate anything that needed to be said just fine.  Having said that, it did take some getting used to not to move your hands a little bit or change facial expressions through speech.  This tells me that body language and movement plays a large role in communication even though you may not notice it.  I can imagine it must be difficult for the blind to fully communicate with others not being able to read their body language.  Reading body language helps you understand what the other party is truly trying to say with their words.  Some situations where not reading body language could be an advantage would be at the poker table, bidding on an item at live auction, and certain law enforcement situations.

                 

Piltdown Hoax

    The Piltdown hoax began with a discovery of unusual and intriguing fossils in Piltdown, England.  The fossils discovered in this large gravel pit resembled that of an ancient type of human with a prominent jaw resembling an ape.  These fossils were dug up and discovered by Charles Dawson, an amateur archaeologist at the time.  This discovery alone meant that not only did humans develop a big brain before they began to walk, but also that England could very well be the location of some of the earliest humans.  Essentially Dawson has discovered the missing link in the evolution of ape to man.  Fellow scientists were relatively convinced that this was indeed the missing link, and had no reason to doubt Dawson in his findings.

    Since scientists are humans just like you and I, they too posses common human faults that anyone may have.  The biggest fault that came into play in this hoax would be greed.  The greed to be famous, the greed to make a name for yourself in the history books, and the greed of respect from your fellow colleagues for apparently making the most important fossil discovery in England to date.  Unfortunately these faults impacted the scientific world negatively by proving that they can be incorrect and potentially fooled if the evidence is convincing enough.

    Thankfully the scientific method prevailed against the hoax proving it to be false, even though it was about 40 years late on doing so.  It wasn't until the advent of fluorine testing on fossils could scientists accurately prove the specimens just didn't match up to the period of which they would be coming from.  Through this experimenting and analyzing results it was officially announced that the Piltdown man was indeed a fake.  Nothing more then a fabricated orangutang jawbone with some pieces of a modern day human skull placed within the same gravel pit.

    Although this was an unfortunate event for science as a whole, I don't feel like anything of this grand scale could ever happen again considering the technology we now posses.  I also don't think the human element should ever be removed from science due to the thought process necessary to put together sequences of events, experiments, hypothesis, etc.  Like I said, I just don't see it possible for someone to pull the wool over so many people's eyes for such a long time with the technology and number of fellow scientists willing to disprove a questionable discovery.

    From learning about this event I have seen how easily one can be convinced with the right evidence and willingness, or even desire, to believe that something is true.  I think there is a life lesson in all of this and that would be to not take everything you hear or see at face value.  Not to say you should go out and become a sceptic of the world, but maybe do a little research for yourself every now and then when something doesn't seem quite right.  Unfortunately in life when something sounds too good to be true, it usually is.        

Primate Pictures

Lemur:

Spider Monkey:

Baboon:

Gibbon:

Chimpanzee:

Primate Comparison

Primate Comparison

Body Size & Sexual Dimorphism

Lemurs

a.  Lemurs are a native primate species to the island of Madagascar.  Madagascar has an extremely seasonal climate, which has caused for many lemur adaptations.  There can be extreme drought conditions to raging cyclone rainstorms, and anything in between.     

b.  The body size of the lemurs has a large range due to the 100 plus species and types of lemurs.  They can range anywhere from 1 oz. all the way up to 20 pounds!  Before humans became involved with the lemurs, there were even some as large as male gorillas.  Sexual dimorphism, or the visual difference between the male and females, doesn’t really appear in the lemur family.  A couple specific species within the lemurs exhibit larger females, but other then that they are basically the same.

c.  Although the lack of sexual dimorphism doesn’t exhibit any environment influence, the array of body sizes definitely does.  Since there is such a collections of body sizes from tiny to relatively large, this tells me that Madagascar has a little something for everybody.  The diverse landscape can cater to almost any size creature and obviously so considering the lemurs alone.

Spider Monkey

a.  Spider monkeys are found in the lush green rainforests of Central America.  These particular monkeys like to spend their time in the tops of the tree canopies gathering fruit, insects, and flowers.  Spider monkey populations are decreasing due to human consumption and deforesting.

b.  The body size of the spider monkey usually ranges about 20-25 pounds at two feet tall with disproportionately long limbs, and a tail measuring in at up to three feet.  The hands of the spider monkey are curved with the tail acting as a fifth appendage able to grasp branches and support the weight of the monkey.  Again sexual dimorphism isn’t very apparent within the spider monkey species other than the female being a pound or so lighter.  One main difference in the sexes is the tendency for males of the same family to stick together for life, while the females disperse and create other families.  This is known as male philopathic.

c.  Similar to the same situation of basically no sexual dimorphism spider monkeys do exhibit adaptation traits with their body size and type.  Since they spend nearly all their life within the tops of the tree canopies, their overly long limbs help them swing from branch to branch and reach their prized fruits.  The trait of spider monkeys being male philopathic would help them readily reproduce and create many smaller groups of baboons ready to capitalize on their area of the rainforest.          

Baboon

a.  The baboon is indigenous to the African and Arabian countries.  They enjoy the savannahs and woodlands, but have been found in almost every climate type.  Anywhere a water source and safe place to sleep (cliff face, tree top, etc.) can be found, so can baboons.  Although baboons have been known to survive for extended periods without water by licking the dew off their fur at night.

b.  Baboons are generally medium to large animals ranging in weight and size from 30 pounds at 20 inches, to 90 pounds at nearly 50 inches.  Sexual dimorphism is very pronounced within the baboons.  Male baboons are much larger, have large canine teeth, and certain specific species have large manes, which the females do not.     

c.  The baboons’ body size was most likely influenced by its environment through predator survival.  Only the larger and more intimidating baboons would naturally survive and therefore create larger offspring in the process.  The sexual dimorphism traits most likely evolved through males being the natural leaders in the troop.  Since males possessed the larger teeth and intimidating manes, they would have better chance for warding off predators, and being able to reproduce once again.  

Gibbon

a.  Gibbons reside in the rainforests of China, Borneo, Indonesia, India, Sumatra, and Java.  They tend to stay up in trees for the majority of their life and their bodies are well equipped to do so.  Gibbons are one of the fastest moving mammals through the trees with highly agile ball and socket wrist joints. 

 

b.  Gibbon’s body size are small and lightweight measuring up to three feet and 15 pounds.  Gibbons’ arms are notoriously larger than their legs and like all apes they have no tail.  Sexual dimorphism is little to none within the gibbon species with males only being very slightly larger than females and sometimes possessing different fur color.

 

c.  The body size of Gibbons are environmentally adapted to having a successful life in the trees.  Their very long arms, ball and socket wrists, and lightweight bodies help them maneuver at high rates of speed to escape predators.  The lack of sexual dimorphism doesn’t really have anything to do with the environment, but I suppose this somewhat common trait between the last few would help any particular primate from getting singled out of the group.

Chimpanzee

a.  Chimpanzees are native to the Congo river area of Africa, but can be found in 21 different countries in Africa spanning all the way to the Atlantic.  They live in a variety of habitats including rainforests, woodlands, swamps, and grasslands. 

b.  Chimpanzee body size ranges from two-three feet in females, and three-four feet in males.  Females tend to weigh 57-110 pounds, and males weigh in at 90-115 pounds.  Chimpanzees have a high level of sexual dimorphism ranging from size, behavior, appearance, and life span.  Males are larger, more aggressive, and live longer.

 

c.  Environmentally speaking I feel as though the chimpanzee body size has adapted to it’ surroundings through being hunted and ability to hide.  If the chimpanzee were much larger, it would be difficult to hide and get away quickly, yet much smaller and the chimp would have a lot more predators to worry about.  I also think the chimps human like sexual dimorphism has helped them formed very strong family units as well as choosing who is leader, etc.