Primate Evolution

Описываются трудности и ошибки «лобового» применения к социальной истории «биологических» представлений об эволюции путем естественного отбора, когда борьба классов и партий воспринимается как межиндивидуальная конкуренция, с отбором «лучших» индивидов и распространением их признаков в популяции. Показаны возможности интересного применения этих представлений, основанные на том, что борьба классов и партий как движущая сила исторического развития постоянно меняет социальную нишу индивидов и структуру общества в целом. А дальше уж их телесность приспосабливается к этой нише под действием стабилизирующего отбора. Показано, почему невалидны представления о том, что классовые разрывы и/или различия создаются отбором.

Humans display a wide range of variation in the orientation of the femoral head, which can range from -18° of retroversion (facing posteriorly) and to 26° of anteversion (facing anteriorly), posing a challenge to anthropologists attempting to infer function from femoral morphology and clinicians presented with the task of accurate reconstruction of the area.  The high amount of variation has been suggested to be unique to humans.
To test this hypothesis that humans are more variable than other taxa, femoral version angles were compared within a sample of 149 femora of 8 species of modern human and non-human primate femora. Laser scan data were collected and reconstructed to create 3D digital polygonal models of each bone. First, clinical studies of human were replicated by quantifying orientation relative to a tabletop plane.  Second, true functional angle were established using Polyworks software (Innovmetric, Inc) using centers of joint movement at the hip and knee.  All data were collected three times and the average used for analysis.  Observed ranges were analyzed statistically using Pearson’s product-moment correlation coefficient, Bartlett’s F-test and coefficients of variation within and among sample groups.
Contrary to our predictions, human were not significantly more variable than other species regardless of body size, locomotion style, or degree of sexual dimorphism, even when data were controlled for sample size . This study serves as a launch pad for further research into the study of how environmental conditions affect the growth and morphology of the femur, and of the relationship between femoral and acetabular version.
This research was supported by funding from the National Science Foundation (BCS 0647557), the Leakey Foundation, and the Wenner-Gren Foundation.

The social brain hypothesis posits that social complexity is the primary driver of primate cognitive complexity, and that social pressures ultimately led to the evolution of the large human brain. Although this idea has been supported by studies indicating positive relationships between relative brain and/or neocortex size and group size, reported effects of different social and mating systems are highly conflicting. Here, we use a much larger sample of primates, more recent phylogenies, and updated statistical techniques, to show that brain size is predicted by diet, rather than multiple measures of sociality, after controlling for body size and phylogeny. Specifically, frugivores exhibit larger brains than folivores. Our results call into question the current emphasis on social rather than ecological explanations for the evolution of large brains in primates and evoke a range of ecological and developmental hypotheses centred on frugivory, including spatial information storage, ex...

More than 800 isolated teeth of fossil Pongo have been recovered from cave sites in the vicinity of Chongzuo in Guangxi, southern China, ranging from the Early to Late Pleistocene (2.0e0.1 Ma). These collections provide a unique regional window into the evolutionary history of orangutans over a twomillion-year period at the northernmost extent of their former geographic range. Here we investigate the nature and timing of the evolutionary change in the dental size of fossil orangutans from Chongzuo. Fossil tooth size (mesiodistal length*buccolingual breadth) was compared against an extant Pongo pygmaeus standard (n ¼ 106 individuals). During the course of the Pleistocene, orangutans from southern China exhibited a progressive reduction in overall dental size. Early Pleistocene Pongo has cheek teeth with occlusal areas that are 38.1% larger than those of extant P. pygmaeus. Those from the Middle and Late Pleistocene are 25.2% and 18.9% larger, respectively. Previously, the size difference in dentition between the Early to Middle Pleistocene and Middle to Late Pleistocene samples was used to differentiate time-successive species of Pongo, namely Pongo weidenreichi and Pongo devosi. However, with access to larger samples and better representation of populations through time, the evidence in support of this taxonomic arrangement requires reconsideration. Diminution of the teeth now appears to be a gradual evolutionary transformation rather than a punctuated event. Moreover, the morphological features that distinguish the Chongzuo fossil orangutans from extant Pongo spp. remain uniform throughout the Pleistocene. Retaining P. weidenreichi and P. devosi as anagenetic species remains an option, but, given the current evidence, we consider it preferable to assign all of the fossil orangutans from Chongzuo to P. weidenreichi. Beyond resolving questions of alpha taxonomy, the study of fossil orangutan dental size provides a basis for estimating body mass, which has implications for interpreting the paleobiology of Pleistocene Pongo in southern China.

The Day 1 Course Overview uses R. Jurmain, H. Nelson, L. Kilgore, & W. Trevathan (2000) Introduction to Physical Anthropology 8th Edition (Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Learning) as the guide to introduce students to the terminology and major concepts of physical anthropology. Each slide represents a chapter or further explains the previous slide:
1. Intro
2. Development of an Evolution Theory
3. Biological Basis of Life
4. Heredity and Evolution
5. An Overview of the Living Primates
6. Fundamentals of Primate Behavior
7. Models of Human Evolution
8. Processes of Macroevolution
9. Paleoanthropology
10. Hominid Origins
11. Homo erectus
12. Neandertals
13. Homo sapiens sapiens
14. Microevolution in Modern Human Populations
15. Human Variation and Adaptation
16. Anthropological Perspective on Human Course of Life

This teaching aid reviews the major evolutionary landmarks that over the last sixty million years marked the development of intelligence in Homo sapiens. The discussion begins with social primates and charts the adaptations that ultimately led to the emergence of modern humans including the growth of the brain, increased manual dexterity, and evolution of language. Also considered are adaptations to allow for the digestion of starch, and their impact on early agriculture, the first use of fire and cooking. Discussion includes consideration of the following gene mutations: RNF213 GENE, HAR1 GENE, ARHGAP11B GENE, SLC2A1 GENE, SLC2A4 GENE, HACNS1 GENE, MYH16 GENE, SRGAP2 GENE, FOXP2 GENE, AMY1 GENE

KEYWORDS
ARCHAEOLOGY, BIOLOGICAL ANTHROPOLOGY, HUMAN EVOLUTION, EVOLUTIONARY BIOLOGY, LANGUAGE, GENETICS, HOMO SAPIEN, HOMO HABILIS, AUSTRALOPITHECINES, PRIMATES, CHIMPANZEE, GORILLA, GELADA, MOYAMOYA DISEASE, CAROTID ARTERY, HOMININ, WONDERWERK CAVE, SOUTH AFRICA, STARCH DIET, MEAT DIET, RNF213 GENE MUTATIONS, HAR1 GENE, ARHGAP11B GENE, SLC2A1 GENE, SLC2A4 GENE, HACNS1 GENE, MYH16 GENE, SRGAP2 GENE, FOXP2 GENE, AMY1 GENE

Evidence from comparative neurobiological studies indicates that humans differ from other primates along several different dimensions of brain organization. Differences in cytoarchitecture, connectivity, and gene expression demonstrate that substantial remodeling of brain microstructure and molecular biology occurred during human evolution, and these changes are likely associated with cognitive specializations. The paleoneurological study of brain reorganization, however, has often been considered only on a larger scale, since the evidence from endocasts is limited to brain regions that can be detected from the traces left in the fossil record. Neuroscience offers a critical perspective on paleoneurology by investigating the microstructure and genetic mechanisms that might be responsible for brain reorganization. Recent findings suggest that neural tissue differs in its anatomical structure and molecular biology across primate species and is not uniform in its processing capabilities. Connectivity patterns can differ across species, producing selective enlargement of connected brain regions. Changes in patterns of innervation for various neurotransmitters may also occur on a microscopic scale, but can produce substantial changes in brain function and cognition. Furthermore, differential regulation of various transcription factors and genes can produce variation in the size of brain structures across primate species. Although the exact nature of brain reorganization related to the evolution of cognitive processing in humans remains to be fully defined, these findings indicate that it may have occurred through a number of different pathways. Further research in both neuroscience and paleoneurology is necessary to identify areas where brain reorganization likely occurred, along with the underlying mechanisms of evolutionary change in human brain structure and function.

Detailed analyses and comparisons of postcranial specimens of Plio-Pleistocene cercopithecids provide an opportunity to examine the recent evolutionary history and locomotor diversity in Old World monkeys. Studies examining the positional behavior and substrate preferences of fossil cercopithecids are also important for reconstructing the paleoenvironments of Plio-Pleistocene hominin sites. Here we describe a new fossil cercopithecid tibia (EP 1100/12) from the Australopithecus afarensis-bearing Upper Laetolil Beds (~3.7 Ma) of Laetoli in northern Tanzania. The fossil tibia is attributed to cf. Rhinocolobus sp., which is the most common colobine at Laetoli. In addition to qualitative comparisons, the tibial shape of EP 1100/12 was compared to that of 190 extant cercopithecids using three-dimensional landmarks. Discriminant function analyses of the shape data were used to assess taxonomic affinity and shape variation relating to positional behavior. EP 1100/12 clustered with extant colobines, particularly the large-bodied genera Nasalis and Rhinopithecus. Comparisons reveal that EP 1100/12 belongs to a large-bodied monkey that engaged in arboreal pronograde quadrupedalism. These findings add further support to previous inferences that woodland and forest environments dominated the paleoenvironment of the Upper Laetolil Beds, which supported the diverse community of cercopithecids at Laetoli. The inferred paleoecology and the presence of large-bodied arboreally-adapted monkeys at Laetoli show that A. afarensis had access to a range of diverse habitats, including woodlands and forests. This supports the possibility that A. afarensis, with its potential range of positional capabilities, was able to utilize arboreal settings for food acquisition and refuge from predators.

Bonobos and chimpanzees can provide us with secrets about ourselves, especially as it relates to ancient feminine wisdom and healing arts featured at Wellness Centers specializing in ancient feminine-based healing arts.

Article explores how hairy cousins have very different natures: Chimpanzee society is dominated by aggressive males;  Bonobos, on the other hand, live a much more peaceful life in a  female-dominated social landscape and use sex to resolve tensions. Discusses how this influences co-operative activities such as hunting.

Bonobos and chimpanzees can provide us with secrets about ourselves, especially as it relates to ancient feminine wisdom and healing arts featured at Wellness Centers specializing in ancient feminine-based healing arts.

Article explores how hairy cousins have very different natures: Chimpanzee society is dominated by aggressive males;  Bonobos, on the other hand, live a much more peaceful life in a  female-dominated social landscape and use sex to resolve tensions. Discusses how this influences co-operative activities such as hunting.

 Explores behavioral neuro-endocrinology applied to color and vision perception.

Ref:
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/bonobos-love-lasers-peep-take-care-troubles-r-eady/
https://www.rochester.edu/news/show.php?id=3663
https://www.womensviewsonnews.org/2011/02/women-equate-men-in-red-with-status-and-power/

Howler monkeys (genus Alouatta) display a peculiar cranial architecture, characterized by a high degree of airorhynchy. This condition may be evolutionarily influenced by a largely folivory diet (with selective pressures on mandibular and splachnocranial dimensions), social structure (related to the development of vocal sacs), or by the interaction between these or other more subtle factors. In terms of functional craniology, airorhynchy may be related to structural changes associated with the morphology of the supraorbital anatomy, with the spatial relationships between face and cranial base, or with morphogenetic variations of the pteric area. However the evolutionary changes associated with the cranial organization in Alouatta are still currently unknown. This study is aimed at investigating the variation and covariation patterns in howler monkeys, considering both inter and intrageneric morphological differences. We also investigated the structural role of the pteric area within the cranial functional matrix, in order to test possible relationships between its variation and the degree of airorhynchy. To address these objectives we applied landmark-based analysis and multivariate statistics to a comparative dataset of atelid adult skulls. Our results suggest that the cranial architecture in howlers is influenced by an allometric vector, which associates higher degrees of airorhynchy with splachnocranial enlargement, basicranial lengthening and neurocranial flattening. On the other hand, the relationship between pterion and airorhynchy could not be confirmed. Either way some minor morphological differences were identified, suggesting that variations of the pteric area may be instead related with the relative development of the masticatory apparatus.

Reverse osmosis is a well documented function of the eccrine glands. The epithelial sodium channels in the apical membranes of the eccrine gland ducts reabsorb salt before perspiration is excreted to maintain water and salt homeostasis. [1] A series of experiments was devised to determine the following matters: whether water can be absorbed through the skin; if so whether the amount of water absorbed is sufficient for normal hydration and thirdly whether reverse osmosis can operate in both directions, that is, whether a person immersed in sea water could absorb water through the sweat glands and, if so, whether surplus salt would be excreted via the kidneys or filtered out by the sodium channels before absorption. An adult male subject underwent a series of immersions and measurements were taken of changes in weight and the quantity and density of urine produced. It was found that fresh water was absorbed at a rate sufficient to maintain normal hydration in both fresh and salt water. In evolutionary terms this mechanism would have provided a means of surviving a drought of any duration simply by adapting to a seafood diet, whereas land based hominins would perish after just a few days without water.

Human faculties for social learning and cumulative inheritance of knowledge and technologies exceed that of our closest primate relatives. Nevertheless, chimpanzees and bonobos have cumulative inheritance and learn faster through social than through asocial learning (Hopper, et al. 2015). Macaque, chimpanzee and human brain comparisons allow us to understand cortical reorganisation throughout primate evolution. However, directly observable evidence in early hominins is limited because brains do not fossilise. The coevolution of manual praxis and language makes tool-use a viable proxy for evolutionary developmental models of social learning. Throughout the Palaeolithic, increasingly complex tools could have relied on more complex social learning mechanisms. This dissertation uses comparative behavioural, palaeoanthropological and neuroimaging research to determine what makes human cognition differ from our primate relatives.
The dissertation aims to examine the evolutionary development of social learning to answer the research question: what social learning mechanisms do the genera Pan and Homo share and what new mechanisms evolved in the hominin lineage? A model is proposed in which social learning, language, and tool-use origins are rooted within in a shared primate heritage for visuomotor coordination connected by action action-observation-execution and mentalising cortical networks. These networks cooperate and are essential for inter-generational transmission of knowledge.
To achieve these aims, a meta-analysis of 99 neuroimaging studies is conducted, contrasting results across humans in mirror neuron, mentalising, language, and tool studies. Results are compared with chimpanzee neuroimaging studies. In humans, the current study found consistent cortical activation in left fronto-parietal-temporal action-observation-execution (i.e. mirror neuron) and right-hemispheric mentalising networks. This same pattern occurs in left- and right-handed individuals. The mirror neuron network activates when individuals observe skills already programmed into their motor repertoire, such as when rehearsing a skill. When individuals use contextual inference to understand another’s intentions, the mentalising network activates. Both networks are required in social learning.
Species differences suggest these networks underwent adaptive selection during hominin evolution. Hominins show more parietal activity and dorsal stream extension than chimpanzees. This is associated with mapping fine details of spatial-temporal awareness of one’s own body. This is essential for copying complex action-sequences. Unfortunately, chimpanzee neuroimaging studies are very limited in number; future research must collect more neuroimaging data to support evolutionary-developmental models.

This thesis examines the problems and paradoxes relating to the role of imagination in human thinking and creativity.  The aim of this study is to come to an understanding of the imagination not as a separate ‘faculty’ of the human mind and, as such, inferior to reason, but rather reappraises imagination as fundamental for human cognition.  This enquiry considers the proposition that human cognition - the mind - functions in conjunction with the workings of the human body and brain.  The enquiry is divided into three parts.  Part One reconsiders the discussion of the imagination in philosophy, with a particular examination of Immanuel Kant.  Part Two explores the role of imagination and the biological sciences in writings on art and aesthetics.  The development of the discipline of art history is, thus, re-examined from the biological approaches employed in eighteenth-nineteenth-and early twentieth-century art writings.  Part Three analyses theories of the evolution of the human species in relation to the role of the imagination.  The coevolution of the human body, brain and mind is investigated and, subsequently, discussed as the basis for human creativity and art.  In conclusion, the incorporation of a biological approach to art history is advocated.

Understanding variation in the basicranium is of central importance to paleoanthropology because of its fundamental structural role in skull development and evolution. At the beginning of the 20th century it was suggested that encephalisation plays a role in producing flexion between midline basicranial elements. It has been proposed that basicranial flexion is also influenced by the size or shape of the face. This hypothesis was further refined during the 1950s by the Swiss anatomist Biegert, who suggested that brain size and facial size act as antagonists on basicranial lexion. Biegert’s model is particularly relevant for understanding aspects of Neanderthal skull evolution because one important and unresolved problem s that these large-brained hominins have slightly less flexed basicrania than equally large-brained modern humans. We addressed this hypothesis by applying geometric morphometrics to a large comparative dataset of radiographic and/or CT images of adult nonhuman primates, hominin fossils and humans (29 species, 142 individuals). Multiple, multivariate regression and thin plate splines analyses suggest that basicranial evolution is highly significantly influenced by both brain size and face size. Our data show that in addition to brain size, the prime factor of basicranial evolution in Homo, facial size importantly influences basicranial morphology and orientation. These interactions can explain why, despite their similar brain sizes, eanderthals as well as some Mid-Pleistocene humans have less flexed cranial bases than modern humans. To gain a detailed understanding of the multifactorial inputs into basicranial flexion, future studies should also focus on the underlying factors of facial size evolution. Grant information: CGL-2006-02131 (Spanish Ministry of Science), MRTN-CT-2005-019564-EVAN, NSF: BNS-8813220.

Gigantopithecus blacki is the largest hominoid that ever lived. The consensus view is that it is a specialized pongine and late-surviving member of the Sivapithecus-Indopithecus lineage. It is known primarily from Early and Middle Pleistocene cave sites in southern China, dating from 2.0 Ma to almost 300 ka. The cause of its extinction in the late Middle Pleistocene is unknown, but ecological change or the arrival of Homo erectus may have been contributing factors. Gigantopithecus is highly specialized in its dentognathic anatomy, with a unique combination of features that distinguish it from all other hominoids. Based on the size of its dentition and mandible, a reasonable estimate of its body mass would be 200–300 kg. There was a progressive increase in dental size from the Early Pleistocene to the Middle Pleistocene, and possibly a shift towards greater complexity of the cheek teeth. Gigantopithecus exhibits a relatively high degree of sexual dimorphism, implying a high level of male-male competition, but the relatively small canines in both sexes suggest that these teeth were not important in agonistic behaviors. The species inhabited a subtropical monsoon forest with a closed canopy and dense understory. Foraging was focused on the forest floor and its diet included a broad range of C 3 plants, including fruits, leaves and stems, and possibly tubers. The cheek teeth and jaws were adapted for processing a wide variety of bulky, fibrous, and abrasive food items, but the small incisors indicate that incisal preparation was not an important part of its feeding repertoire.

Explaining in simple terms the so-called aquatic ape theory.
Human ancestors during the Ice Ages (Pleistocene Homo after +-2 mill.yrs ago) did not disperse intercontinentally running over open plains as popularly assumed, but followed African & Eurasian coasts & rivers, where their diet included shallow-aquatic & waterside foods, which are rich in brain-specific nutrients, e.g. DHA, iodine, taurine, oligo-elements.

Hominin systematics, encompassing both taxonomy and phylogeny (Strait, 2013), has significant implications for how the evolution of species and traits are understood and communicated. Following a recent influx of fossils (e.g., Brown et al., 2004; Lordkipanidze et al., 2013; Villmoare et al., 2015a; Berger et al., 2015) the amount of diversity in fossil morphology has increased correspondingly. As researchers do not yet approach diversity in a uniform manner, the literature has been flooded with conflicting theories and methodologies (Strait, 2013). Particularly volatile has been the study of the origin of the genus Homo and the extent of variation therein: much controversy arises from conflicting views of the number of valid species subsumed within ‘early Homo’ given unspecified definitions of species and genera. Additionally, there is still a lack of understanding of the extent of and mechanism behind variation, especially within Hominina. The first section of the following paper addresses ‘how can species be identified?’ and ‘how should species be classified into higher taxa?’ The second section reviews the prevalent arguments used to systematise fossils frequently classified as ‘early Homo.’ It considers: the validity of Homo rudolfensis; the morphological, spatial & temporal overlap of earlier Homo with Homo ergaster; the systematic significance of the recently discovered LD 350-1; and finally, the appropriateness of ‘early Homo’ as an adaptive grade.

A ‘Cattle Cult’ is defined as a social model which claims the Divine Right to Rule of its elite, or alpha-ranking male members (no pun), as having been handed down to the men of their tribe by their local, tribal war god at the Creation. ‘In the Beginning,’ according to these privileged, meta-narratives, ‘God’ (Yahweh, Ja-Ho-Va-He, Jahovah, El, the Elohim by any other name(s)—the monolithic sky gods of countless other Cattle Cult societies across the world in the wake of patriarchal revolutions) gave possession, control and rule over all the people, animals, fruits of the Earth, and territories to the alpha-ranking men of the tribe. Cattle Cults are the result of male-dominant-ranking dynamics elevated to the status and psycho/spiritual prestige of a religion.

Although most paleoanthropologists conceive Homo erectus as a widespread and wildly variable species from which later hominids emerged, the persistence of this notion derives primarily from its defense, not from scrutiny of morphology. Indeed, review of relevant specimens from Sangiran, other Javanese sites, and Zhoukoudian Lower Cave (China) reveals that the concept «erectus» masks evidence of taxic diversity in the Asian hominid fossil record and raises questions about non-Asian specimens belonging to a single species. In turn, these questions lead to re-evaluating the systematic viability of constraining Plio-Pleistocene non-australopith hominids to a single genus, Homo.

The Late Miocene sequence at Haritalyangar, Himachal Pradesh, India, has produced abundant remains of the hominid Sivapithecus and the sivaladapids Sivaladapis and Indraloris. Also recovered from these sediments is an isolated and worn upper molar that was made the holotype of Krishnapithecus krishnaii and assigned to the Pliopithecoidea. However, the heavy wear and absence of definitive pliopithecoid features on the tooth rendered the assignment to this superfamily unconvincing. Here, we describe two lower molars from Haritalyangar that bear unmistakable pliopithecoid features and that are plausibly assignable to the same species as the type specimen of K. krishnaii. They convincingly demonstrate for the first time the presence of the Pliopithecoidea in South Asia. The new molars also reveal that K. krishnaii was perhaps the largest known pliopithecoid and that it possessed highly derived postcanine dental morphology. Because of its highly derived nature, it is difficult to determine its relationships within Pliopithecoidea, but a sister taxon relationship with either the Dionysopithecidae or Pliopithe-cinae is equally plausible; it is only distantly related to the Crouzeliinae. It is sufficiently distinct, however , from all other pliopithecoids to warrant placement in a separate family.

The incorporation of research tools and analytical approaches from the geospatial sciences is a welcome trend for the study of primate and human evolution. The use of remote sensing (RS) imagery and geographic
information systems (GIS) allows vertebrate paleontologists, paleoanthropologists, and functional morphologists to study fossil localities, landscapes, and individual specimens in new and innovative ways that
recognize and analyze the spatial nature of much paleoanthropological
data. Whether one is interested in locating and mapping fossiliferous rock units in the field, creating a searchable and georeferenced database to catalog fossil localities and specimens, or studying the functional morphology of fossil teeth, bones, or artifacts, the new geospatial sciences provide an essential element in modern paleoanthropological inquiry. In this article we
review recent successful applications of RS and GIS within paleoanthropology and related fields and argue for the importance of these methods for the study of human evolution in the twenty first century. We argue that the time has come for inclusion of geospatial specialists in all interdisciplinary field research in paleoanthropology, and suggest some promising areas of development and application of the methods of geospatial science to the science of human evolution.

Social behaviour of fossil hominoid species is notoriously difficult to predict owing to difficulties in estimating body size dimorphism from fragmentary remains and, in hominins, low canine size dimorphism. Recent studies have shown that the second-to-fourth digit ratio (2D : 4D), a putative biomarker for prenatal androgen effects (PAEs), covaries with intra-sexual competition and social systems across haplorrhines; non-pair-bonded polygynous taxa have significantly lower 2D : 4D ratios (high PAE) than pair-bonded monogamous species. Here, we use proximal phalanx ratios of extant and fossil specimens to reconstruct the social systems of extinct hominoids. Pierolapithecus catalaunicus, Hispanopithecus laietanus and Ardipithecus ramidus have ratios consistent with polygynous extant species, whereas the ratio of Australopithecus afarensis is consistent with monogamous extant species. The early anatomically modern human Qafzeh 9 and Neanderthals have lower digit ratios than most contemporary human populations, indicating increased androgenization and possibly higher incidence of polygyny. Although speculative owing to small sample sizes, these results suggest that digit ratios represent a supplementary approach for elucidating the social systems of fossil hominins.