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Blog Post #4

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    I found the article The Pelvis and Femur of Ardipithecus ramidus: The Emergence of Upright Walking to be informative as well as interesting. I found it fascinating that no other primate has a human-like pelvic girdle. We are the only species that can stand upright while walking. I guess I never realized that our legs appear bigger and more muscular due to supporting the weight of our entire body. The article discussed how the hominid pelvis is the most distinct osteological complexes of all primates. It is considered distinct because of its configuration of the superior portion which is responsible for the balance of a single limb while upright walking. The other limb is being supported while the moving limb is able to swing and catch itself. The body is able to remain in the upright position our legs continue to balance as well as move in a forward or backwards movement. I could only imagine how hard it would be to move if our hamstrings were not as adapted to support all of our b
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What is Human Evolution?

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    Human evolution is defined anthropologically as the process of adapting from primate like species which led to human existence. The study of human evolution is beneficial towards advancements in our genetics and towards useful medications. Most diseases are hereditary, which means as humans evolved so did their diseases and conditions. If we continue to explore and study these diseases and mutations then we could potentially find treatments or cures. The study of human evolution is also important so that we are able to find out more about our past. The study of our past my prove to benefit our future. Our futures are unpredictable as to when they will end. The study of our past can lead to discoveries as to how we can better prepare ourselves for our fates. Whether those fates being another ice age or an exploding lava pocket under the Yellowstone National Park. Those preparations may allow a chance to escape our fates to restart our population. The funding of human evolution will
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What if two Hominin Species met?

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What if two Hominin Species met?          What the heck does a hominin zpecies look like? That was the exact question that went through my mind. I would assume that they were primates or primates who had evolved into a human like species. With that being said, how would these human like species react? Are they primate minded? Or were they the curious "caveman" who supposedly created fire? As I am asking myself these questions; I think back to my archaeology class and our discussions on Neanderthals. We briefly discussed their skeletal similarities to primates, significantly the skull.      I am not sure of the cognitive function of Neanderthals, but I will note there are many similarities in skull structure. That brings the question, do they think like humans or primates? Like the center of the tootsie pop, the world may never know. I would like to think that they were similar to humans since they were able to adapt and eventually able to reproduce. I am sure if two hominin s
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Bipedalism

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    Bipedalism is defined as the condition in which having two feet or using two feet for locomoive purposes. Humans are the only organisms that are capable of standing and walking on two feet as well as in an upward position. Apes are able to walk on two feet, but are not able to stand as straight as humans. They also use their arms differently when walking, but can also use them like humans to extend their hands to grab an item of interest. While there are multiple features of bipedalism, I chose to focus on the pelvis area and the difference or similarities between them.      For humans, the only difference you will see in the pelvis is between males and females. The pelvic area for a women is most of the time larger as well as wider. This is because women's pelvic areas are meant to widen during childbirth. Male pelvic areas appear to be smaller in comparison to women's for that reason. The purpose of our pelvis is for the balance of our upper body as well as keep us from
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Adaption of a Species

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    The question, "If humans came from chimps, why are their still chimps?" has never crossed my mind. I will say this question sparked my own curiosity as I have never thought about why that is. Why did only certain species of chimps adapt into humans while the rest seemed to stay as themselves? I believe the answer to this question involves environmental adaption as well as genetic adaptations or mutations.  I remember learning that we share about 97-98% of our DNA with chimpanzees. At that time, I had thought about how that could be remotely possible. Could it be possible that chimps and our early Hominin ancestors were able to breed? I say this because of the word polytypic, which is the ability to interact and breed biologically which then could result in morphological population differences within species. Or could it be chronospecies, which is when a species evolves into another overtime. I have found that environmental adaption could be a possibility due to species ch
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Decolonization of Anthropology

    When I was a child, I grew up in a semi-religious household. My father grew up Pentecostal and my mother grew up kinda Catholic if that makes sense. Our origin story for them was that of God, who created the world in just seven days. That also meant that was the story I told everyone for my first twelve years of life. When I was in  high school, the discussion of evolution was brought to my attention inside and outside of the classroom. We discussed Darwin and his theories of Evolution and Natural Selection. We also discussed how religion played a major part in our civilization. When I was growing up, I always believed that my teachers were intelligent and knew everything they taught us by heart. That everything they taught us was the truth and necessary to know to hopefully become successful in the future. I have since then learned about the racism and sexism that has always been apart of our civilization. That for generations after generations this idea was passed down that super
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