Becoming Human Webquest

Evidence 2. Where is Hadar and why is it significant? Ethiopia, Africa; place of pilgrimage for those who wish to study where humans came from 3. What is a hominid? A creature that walks upright 4. Why was the 3.2 milion year old hominid fossil found in Hadar called "Lucy"? Because a song with the name Lucy was playing over & over again in the lab and the fossil was a female

Evidence 5. What does the word Australopithecus mean? Southern Ape 6. What is a paleoecologist? A scientist that reconstructs the environment in which ancestors lived

Evidence—Related Exhibits 7. The scientific method begins with an observation, information drawn from these observations rests on the principles of scientific thinking. What are the 3 principles of scientific thinking? A real universe exists The universe behaves according to predictable laws without outside influence These laws are knowable because they can be observed and tested

8. Finding fossils can be difficult, name 4 locations on the earth where significant hominid fossil finds occur. Answers vary 9. When a fossil is found, profiling can be done to answer questions about the organism. How do scientists determine: The species – anatomical features of the teeth, skull, & skeleton The age – looking at teeth & bones The sex – sexual dimorphism (robustness & the pelvis) The health – by examining the skeleton for degenerative diseases or infections

Anatomy 10 What is the closest living relative to the human? How closely are we related? African chimpanzee; 98% 11. What is a common ancestor? African Ape 12. How does the human foot compare to the foot of a chimpanzee? Our big toe is line with the other toes whereas theirs is not (bipedialism)

13. How does the skull of homo erectus compare to the skull of homo sapiens? They are built like our own (larger and their brain size was similar) 14. Humans are like other primates in many ways. Name two similarities between humans and other primates. 1) opposable thumbs & 2) complex brains/communication ability 15. Bipedalism requires anatomical changes in bone structure to allow walking upright. Name one difference between the skeleton of a chimpanzee and a human that aids humans in walking upright.

Lineages 16. Where are most Neanderthal fossils found Lineages 16. Where are most Neanderthal fossils found? Europe & Western Asia 17. How did the face of Neanderthals differ from modern humans? it was bigger and it protruded in the front of the skull more than ours 18. Suggest one reason why Neanderthals became extinct. because Homo sapiens came on the scene

Lineage—Related Links What is the Missing Link and why is it not an accurate term for hominid evolution? A half-ape/half-human intermediate of modern day humans and apes 20. How humans populated the globe is a question among paleoanthroplogists. Compare the "Out of Africa Theory" to the "Multiregional Theory.“ OAT: we evolved from a local pop. of archaic humans in Africa 100, 000-200, 000 years ago MT: archaic human populations slowly evolved from different regions

21. How does evolution explain the diversity of people throughout the world, like types of skin color? Areas with more sun had people with more melanin to protect from UV rays