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Primate Evolution Hypothesis

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Climate change had a heavy influence on nonhuman primate evolution. Modern primates live in areas with a warmer climate where forests tend grow thickly, mainly in the southern hemisphere. However primates used to have a much more diverse habitat, living in more areas of the world than they do today. This is directly a result of climate change which has forced primates to change habitats. Climate change also occurred multiple times between the origins of early primates and modern day primates however. For example "The Oligocene was an epoch of major geological change with resulting regional climate shifts that likely affected the direction of evolution" (O'Neil 16). Climate change not only relocated much of the existing primates but also cause …show more content…

The arboreal hypothesis, put forth by Smith and Jones, explains the primates characteristics as adaptations to a life in trees. Their 3d perceiving eyes, intelligence, and grasping hands/feet all working in tandem to make swinging from tree to tree more effective. The loss of a developed sense of smell in favor for these adaptations which were more important for the life in the trees.

The visual predation hypothesis asserted that the adaptations occurred to enhance the primates abilities to prey on insects/small creatures, which also happened to live in trees or forest undergrowth. Cartmill who was responsible for the hypothesis claimed the shift to life in the trees wasn't the most important factor to consider. However this hypothesis doesn't account for how primates evolved to better gather and eat fruit.

Sussman's angiosperm radiation hypothesis accounts for just that. Their hypothesis puts emphasis on the gather of fruit not insects. Sussman explains the visual adaptations occurred because of the poor visibility in the forest and a necessity for being able to spot fruit in trees. And their grasping hands/feet made eating fruit while hanging in trees

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, changes in shape of the Earth’s orbit and its tilt can also affect climate as that determines the amount of sunlight that reaches the Earth. Similar to what is mentioned in the previous point; the tilt and position of the Earth’s axis affect temperature on very long timescales. This means that it take long for the position and the tilt of the Earth’s axis to change. Therefore, this also fails to explain the recent rapid warming of the

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Hence, this source should be trustable. About 2,300,000 years ago, there existed a kind of primate began to use tool. They lived together, and they knew how to corporate with each others to hunt foods with the

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Climate change influences nonhuman primate evolution in a number of ways. Fore example, in Central Asia, climates increased temperature by an insane amount. However, the issue among primates became that it was too dry of an environment and they were not able to survive. Primates among the northern hemisphere pretty much disappeared as a result of the increase in temperature of that period. Additionally, in South Asia and East Africa, tropical rain forests were being taken out and instead they would have grassy woodland areas, much less wet than the environment they replaced.

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Climate change had a very large hand in the evolution of non primate evolution. Many factors that were changed as the worlds climate changed influenced the development of primates. The change in topography in certain regions changed the types of foods that were available in those regions, which in turn could kill of species that only eat one food group such as fruit. If the climate becomes colder than the fruit could not grow ideally, and therefore primates who ate fruit as there primary source of nutrients would either have to find another food group to adapt to or face extinction. The largest change is obviously one of change in terrain.

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Humans evolved from these pre-human primates around 3 and a half mya. The primates that evolved into humans 3 and a half mya such as the Ardipithecus robustus portrayed many human like features as they were the last species of primates to evolve before humans were introduced. The primate displayed two arms, two legs, a head, jaw, neck, eyes, mouth etc. This species was as human as primates got because next up was the species Homo habilis which appeared much more human like than his ancestor. Still walking on his hind legs and chewing his food in his mouth and seeing through his

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Primate evolution is very much driven by the changes in climate that happened throughout the time of their adaptations. Climate changes derived from one main source; the movement of tectonic plates. These tectonic plates that are constantly moving away from each other. In addition, the drifts in tectonic plates influence changes in climate because they moved large land masses away from each other to a different location which contained different climate statuses due to leaving them closer or further from the equator a huge decider of climate characteristics. Moreover with climate change, evolutionary adaptations came into play, with various species as well to one of the main features of primates which is their strategies and anatomical features

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Through history there has been evidence to help support the claim that climate change has influenced the evolution of primates. Scientific evidence has proven that during certain climate spikes such as the swamp age, apes in the given territories that encompassed Africa led a migration to the Asia and Europe territories. The same climate changes that was responsible for the creation of the Swiss Alpes and other phenomena, has been associated with the adaptation, extinction, and migration. As weather changed in certain areas, the land became more dry making it harder to obtain and hunt food. Climate change, in theory, led to the extinction of the Sivapithecids apes because of the inability that the species has to obtaining food.

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The climate in Africa was experiencing a warming and cooling phase. From South Africa North of the Ethiopian Highlands the cooling a drying forced forests to contract and the Savannahs to spread. It was in this region that apes stopped living in the trees and had to learn to live in the Savannas and adapted to using two feet. Being bipedal increased survival by being able to use their arms for carrying food over long distances and avoiding predators.

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As a result, he predicted that early hominids were confined to drier areas of African land, which meant that bipedalism could have developed as a feeding adaptation. Also, Dr. Hunt noted that the “curved robust fingers and toes, mobile shoulders, and cone-shaped torsos were evolved from arm-hanging.” During bipedal harvesting, the curved robust fingers and toes gripped the branches. The mobile shoulders and cone-shaped torso worked to relieve stress on the body while these specimens hung by one-arm. These traits are found in early hominin populations (ex.

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Wrangham proposes that dietary changes are the main reason for the biological separation between apes and humans. Evolution takes hundreds of thousands of years to drastically show change, so by searching for evolutionary advances, scientists discovered a main reason why animals, as a whole, experience change. After several years of hearing “we are what we eat," science has come to show that: “animals are superbly adapted to their diets, and over evolutionary time the tight fit between food and anatomy is driven by food rather

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Humans came from primates, as scientific studies have shown the great ape from Africa, chimpanzees and gorillas having a common ancestor with humans from six to eight million years ago (Smithsonian,

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Non-human primate infants are usually seen in the wild interacting strictly with their mothers. The research question I proposed was, do infants interact mainly with their mothers, or do the males sometimes carry and feed the infants as well? In my research I wanted to observe all species that I saw. This included White Faced Capuchin Monkeys, Howler Monkeys, and Spider Monkeys. The first species I studied was the Cebus capucinus (white faced capuchin monkey)

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By studying how an ape would get a banana using “smart” methods can only prove a miniscule amount of their intelligence. Costello then says that “human ‘reasoning’” (PDF pg.44) is the only cause of what separates us from animals. In spite of that, I would have to say that this reason would show how humans have progressed more than any other animal. The basis of this proves that we have a better understanding of how things work over other animals.

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In Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, the simian flu has wiped out the majority of humankind throughout the world and the apes have not seen any signs of human in “ten winter.” During the first scenes of this film we see how the male apes are out in the woods hunting for food just like the Cro-Magnon did in the past. It is also seen in the next scenes, when the male apes return home that Maurice is teaching the children by drawing on the cave walls and rocks resembling the traditions of the Cro-Magnon. These two examples show how evolution is inevitable no matter what species one might

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Scientists published the research of understanding the humans origins and got attention from all different countries, by giving them advice about early human ancestor can possibly live with a various of woodland community habitually eats included the food which is hard to chew like leaves and trees. In the other investigation from another scientist said Australopithecus sediba didn’t have a good structure for the mouth to eat in order to have a unfaltering diet of eating hard sustenance. However, a new research doesn't straightforwardly locate if Australopithecus sediba really has a close relative of early Homo for evolution, anyway it still does furnish better proof that the dietary progressions has formed those important and essential evolutionary for the humans nowadays. Researchers think that their investigation gives a truly corroboration of the contrast between rebuilding the animals who almost extincted and knowing those modification. The analysis of A. Sediba’s teeth gave scientist a big surprise to know two groups of different type must had been eaten hard substance like tree and leave before they disappear in this world.

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