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Similarities between primate and humans
Human evolution short note
Essay of human evolution
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This article, titled Common Ground, written by Barbara Smuts, points out the main differences between humans and apes, such as our upright stance, large brains, and capacity for spoken language and abstract reasoning. However, the main point of this article is to emphasize the many similarities that apes share with us. Smuts goes into great detail about how human social and emotional tendencies are very reflective in the family of apes. The idea that humans could possibly have evolved from apes was thought impossible until about 150 years. Charles Darwin, an English naturalist and geologist, best known for his contribution to evolutionary theory, stated “humans evolved from an apelike ancestor” (1). Still after Darwin’s theories, many people still doubted the chances of this being true. Just in the past decade have scientists reached a general agreement about the evolutionary relationships between humans and apes. DNA evidence indicates that chimps and bonobos are more closely related to humans than they are to gorillas! Technically humans are a kind of great ape, and that is why throughout the article Smuts will refer to apes as forest apes. Apes are sometimes viewed as ignorant and small-minded, but Smuts …show more content…
As stated in the article, “each ape’s social success depends on what other group members are up to, natural selection has favored the capacity for social maneuvers and [superior intelligence]” (2). Natural selection also favors apes because they are not ones to dwell or hold grudges on other apes when they get into feuds. Frans de Waal, a primatologist at the Arnheim Zoo in the Netherlands, shows how natural selection has also promoted the ability to strengthen the relationships of others. In his example, he gives an account of Mama, the most influential female in the colony, who would reconcile other apes after they got into
Chimpanzees make tools and use them to procure foods and for social exhibitions; they have refined hunting tactics requiring collaboration, influence and rank; they are status cognizant, calculating and capable of trickery; they can learn to use symbols and understand facets of human language including some interpersonal composition, concepts of number and numerical sequence and they are proficient in spontaneous preparation for a future state or event.
To start, research shows that there are a striking number of similarities between humans and chimpanzees in context to their social behavior.
Harms, William. "Professor Finds That Nonhuman Primates Have Evolutionary Reason to Bond with Their Offspring." Professor Finds That Nonhuman Primates Have Evolutionary Reason to Bond with Their Offspring. The University of Chicago Chronicle, 12 July 2001. Web. 24 Mar. 2014.
The evolution of man is constantly in question. While we are reasonably sure that modern humans and primates are both related to the same common ancestor, there is constant debate over what initially caused the two species to split into early hominids and apes. According to some, our longest and most popular theory on the division of man and ape is profoundly wrong. However, those same individuals usually offer an equally controversial theory as a substitute, one that is almost impossible to scientifically test or prove. Both the Savanna Theory and the Aquatic Ape Theory offer solutions to how and why humans evolved into bipedal toolmakers. But with enough questioning, each loses its accountability to rhetorical science.
Quiatt, D., & Reynolds, V. (1993). Primate behaviour: information, social knowledge, and the evolution of culture. Cambridge [England: Cambridge University Press].
“Men are dogs.” “Don’t be a chicken.” “She is sneaky like a snake.” These are common idioms that are spoken today among our society, but one question is comes to mind. Are humans and animals more similar than we think? Some would declare the only difference between human and animals is that animals lack verbal communication. According to Jill McCorkle’s book, Creatures of Habit, she explains the variations of similar characteristics between both, humans and animals. McCorkle uses sociobiology to develop her story titles in connection with the animal counterparts. According to the Gale Encyclopedia of Science, “sociobiology” is defined as “the study of the evolution of social behavior in all organisms, including human beings.” By using sociobiology, this gives the reader a better insight on the connection between humans and animals. Throughout my essay, I will select several short stories and illustrate the similar characteristic between humans and animals.
The human intellect is widely understood to be that which distinguishes us from other animals. Mayr tells us that the rapid brain expansion that took place in Australopithecines and early Homo is correlated with two factors; a change in hominids niche, moving from the trees to bush savanna, and the development of speech. (p 252) This essay attempts to summarize some current explanations of the relationships between language and the brain in human evolution, and relate them to another characteristic of humans correlated with the human intellect- our social complexity.
According to National Geographic, scientists have sequenced the genome factor of the chimpanzee and found that humans are 98.5% similar to the ape species. The chimpanzee is our closest relative in the animal kingdom; however, some people are not aware of our resembling traits with chimpanzees. Jane Goodall’s, In the Shadow of Man, describes some similar traits humans and chimpanzees have such as their facial expressions and emotions, use of tools, and diet.
Due to their close evolutionary relationship to humans, chimpanzees and bonobos have been widely studied and used as models for the behavior of early hominids. In recent years, new information regarding the social behaviors and ecology of bonobos has come to light, and this has warranted many interspecific comparisons between bonobos and chimpanzees: “Chimpanzees have been characterized in terms of their intercommunity warfare, meat eating, infanticide, cannibalism, male status-striving, and dominance over females. Bonobos, meanwhile, have been portrayed as the ‘Make love, not war’ ape, characterized by female power-sharing, a lack of aggression between either individuals or groups, richly elaborated sexual behavior that occurs without the constraint of a narrow window of fertility, and the use of sex for communicative purposes” (Stanford 399). Over the course of this paper, I will provide evidence for the dichotomy between these two species, with particular attention to the histories of their research, the nature of their social interactions, as well as their sexual behaviors.
Our earliest ancestors are primates. They are our closest relatives which is why we can see our behavior’s and practices in them. If we observe them we can get a better understanding of them and us, human beings. But unfortunately we all don’t get the chance to see a Primate right in our backdoor. So the best thing I could do for my observation was to visit them at the zoo.
B.M.de Waal, Tree of Origin: What Primate Behavior Can Tell Us about Human Social Evolution. Havard University Press: Massachusets, 2001.
In his lecture, primatologist Robert Sapolsky explains the uniqueness of humans as well as our similarities to other primates. In doing so, he broke it down into six points of interest: aggression, theory of mind, the golden rule, empathy, pleasure in anticipation and gratification postponement, and lastly, culture. Professor Sapolsky approaches each point with interesting fact-based examples thus allowing me to gain insight on humans and other primates. Sapolsky’s knowledge of primates along with his scientific background allows him to make a clear argument that one cannot simply ignore.
... drawn. What makes us human? Through the examination of human evolution, both biological adaptations and cultural adaptations which are distinct to humans can be recognized. Biologically speaking, humans are unique in that they are bipedal, they have larger brain sizes, and longer leg length. When examining the cultural evolution of humans we have a complex language system, we live in communities, engage in symbolic behavior, and act through emotional impulses. While we are often considered to be superior to all other animals, it is important to recognize that while we are animals, we have very distinct characteristics and adaptations that separate us both biologically and culturally from all other animals.
In this primate society, female bonobos tend to hold higher social ranks than males. It does not happen to often when there is an aggressive encounter between both sexes. Social hierarchies within the bonobo society exist but do not play a prominent role as compared to other related primate societies. Males within the society tend to...
Chimpanzees are genetically more similar to humans than other animals, including the apes. They are noted as being 98-99% genetically identical to humans, which has been recently confirmed (NEAVS).