This week I really found the concept of bipedalism interesting. In the lecture it mentioned the example of the chimpanzees that we see today. I thought it was cool to learn that you can notice them every once in a while standing on their two legs like we do everyday however they do not do it all the time like we do. It made me really interested to learn more about how we evolved from the other species that we are functionally able to walk on our two legs all day everyday and yet it is not practical or efficient for them to. I think this major difference between humans and our relatives is something that will offer a lot more insight into the other changes that we see in our species versus theirs. I also was curious as to whether or not these other species might evolve to become fully bipedal like we are or if their evolutionary path is going to continue to diverge separate from ours.
Another idea I found really interesting this week was the changes in our teeth sizes seen throughout time. I think that this is something that we might still see changes in as we continue to evolve. If you think about how our diet has changed it makes sense why our teeth sizes have drastically changed over time. It was interesting learning about the genera Ardipthecus in particular. Thinking about how their canine teeth were so large in comparison to ours currently where they are just barely longer than the rest of our teeth was a cool thought. I did not think about teeth having a purpose other than the diet that we eat. So learning that their teeth might have been larger for other purposes like defensive measures was shocking to me. It was weird to think that our ancestors might have used their teeth in ways that we now would relate only to wild animals. I also thought it was intriguing that this species in particular had a grasping big toe. It was weird to picture having a toe that resembles our thumb on our feet. It makes evolutionary sense why we no longer would need a toe on the side of our foot to grab trees swinging through the forest but it made me laugh thinking about that possibility.
Learning about Lucy was really cool. I think this is a perfect example of how our human ancestors can help us reconstruct and learn more about our past. Getting to physically piece together the remains of our closest ancestors and be able to compare and contrast their physical structures to our own will offer a lot of insight into how we were able to evolve the way that we did. I think that this field in particular will offer us a lot of insight into why we have certain traits that our ancestors maybe did not have and could give us a clue into what traits might still change in the future that we don’t really need or use anymore.
Hi Amelia!
I enjoyed reading your blog post for this week. I also found the hominin trait, bipedalism to be interesting. It is crazy to think early hominins were bipedal, but they still had primate like traits. Such as long arms for climbing. When I was reading the lectures, there are many factors that contributed to bipedalism. I found that when they are put in a stressful conditions when the environment is rapidly changing to one that does not favor in the ways of that time we start to adapt physically to the environment. We share around 96 percent of DNA with primates, but bipedalism separates us from four legged primates. This can help us distinguish the modern day humans. Overall, I enjoyed reading your opinions about the hominin traits and Lucy!
Hi Amelia!
I also found the concept of bipedalism extremely captivating. As you stated, it sparked my interest in learning more about how the evolution occurred and the functionality of it as well. You brought up an interesting point about whether or not the other species will evolve to become fully bipedal like us, I didn’t think of that myself. It definitely was shocking to me as well that some of our ancestors may have used their teeth in other ways than chewing food. It’s difficult to picture modern organisms using their teeth for defensive measures, it seems awfully barbaric. Learning about Lucy was completely new to me. It was crazy to hear about how our human ancestors can teach us so much about the past and the present too.
Hi Amelia! I also found the idea of bipedalism and how it relates humans to chimpanzees super interesting. I have never really thought about how we have the ability to walk on our two legs all of the time, but chimpanzees can only do it partially and it takes lots of energy for them (the analogy to humans walking on their hands was very eye-opening to me). I also thought that the evolution in teeth size was super interesting. The idea that an individual’s teeth can directly influence their ability to succeed in a physical fight was super shocking to me. It makes sense when I think about all of the different animals that do use their mouths to defend themselves and the size of their teeth, but it was still very interesting to learn about.