Modern human biology is very nicely reconstructed through learning about our past ancestors. One of the traits while learning the lecture discusses small teeth. This phenotype is something humans possess and contain specifically due to our chewing type. I remember learning about how species in the past such as robust forms, known as Paranthropus, had giant molars and teeth in the back of the mouth. These enormous molars evolved for the species to be able to chew different things. However, now we do not have these molars. A species called ardipithecus suggests that the giant molars were slowly disappearing. One species in particular is Ard. Ramidus. Besides the fact that we have a forearm magnum, also known as the frame and magnum underneath the skull, bipedalism has been around for a very long time. Species such as Ardipithecus “Ardi” had begun having bipedal-forearm magnum underneath the skull. These species have been dated back to 5.8-4.4 mya. This is an indication of how long bipedalism has been in the environment. I very much enjoyed learning about one species in particular, Lucy, who is 80% finished. Being able to see an image of how this creature looks like, and the ability to pinpoint how she is nearly human looking, is showing how much we have evolved slowly.

Hominin diversity, of course, plays a huge role in how humans have evolved. The main transformation, in my opinion, is the occurrence of bipedalism in species that came about during an environmental change. Lots of jungles and forests existed way before our time, indicating that our ancestors had lived in trees and obtained amazing climbing abilities. However, as the environment grew colder and trees were drying off, species had to learn to adapt quickly by walking on two legs instead of all fours. This is the greatest transformation for our ancestors. In the lectures that we learned, species had to separate into East and South Africa, which is where most of the fossil index is found. These two different species such as the Paranthropus and Australopithecus had been living in the same era, but developing differently. All of these species and their fossils, such s the A. ghari had fossils found in caves, indicating that there is some modern human traits and some primitive features. Moreover, this is what fossils are able to show us. The idea of mosaic evolution tells us that the ancestors paleoanthropologist wants to learn about have primitive and human-like traits. It is key for anthropologist to obtain fossil information in order to have a full picture our ancestors. For example, anthropologist having the ability to paint a mirror image of “Lucy” through discovering the right side of her femur and other portions of her body, we can see that humans were walking millions of years ago. It is also very important to understand the age of a fossil so we can make a timeline of species leading up to hominins. There are many gaps, currently, that are not able to give us a straight line leading up to humans. However, most of the data anthropologist obtained gives a semi clear picture of how humans have evolved and who they are today.