Student Exploration: Human Evolution - Skull Analysis

"These features give the fossil real value in understanding patterns of brain evolution, rather than simply being a curiosity of unexpected preservation, " Figueroa said. Activity C continued on next page). The Nature study includes data produced at U-M's Computed Tomography in Earth and Environmental Science facility, which is supported by the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences and the College of Literature, Science, and the Arts. Respond to the questions and prompts in the orange boxes. GIZMO Student Exploration: Human Evolution - Skull Analysis. Question: How does the location of the foramen magnum indicate if a species was bipedal? Introduction: Skulls, even from the same species, can have a wide variety of shapes and sizes. What do you think could explain the differences between the maxillary angle, teeth, and palate of these two species? If so, which species? Student exploration: human evolution - skull analysis and opinion. Early ray-finned fishes like Coccocephalus can tell scientists about the initial evolutionary phases of today's most diverse fish group, which includes everything from trout to tuna, seahorses to flounder. Opisthocranionorale distance (cm).

1. Student exploration: human evolution - skull analysis answers
2. Student exploration: human evolution - skull analysis report
3. Student exploration: human evolution - skull analysis answer key
4. Student exploration: human evolution - skull analysis software

Student Exploration: Human Evolution - Skull Analysis Answers

Compare the skulls of a variety of significant human ancestors, or hominids. Subscribers Get: - Access to community lesson materials. Measure: As shown at right, place one of the protractor s circles on the top of the zygomatic process. Using the Human Evolution Skull Analysis Gizmo, you will discover some of the ways that skulls can be used to learn about human evolution. The internal volume of the cranium is called the cranial capacity. What do you think cranial capacity is a good indicator of? Gizmo of the Week: Human Evolution – Skull Analysis. Using the index values you calculated, what can you conclude about humans and chimps? Exam (elaborations). "It had all these features, and I said to myself, 'Is this really a brain that I'm looking at? '" The ancestors of today's modern apes (gorillas, orangutans, gibbons, chimpanzees and humans) first appeared in the fossil record about 27 million years ago. Human Evolution - Skull Analysis. Explain: Why do you think the foramen magnum is positioned near the rear of the cranium for knuckle-walking species and near the center of the cranium for bipedal species?

Student Exploration: Human Evolution - Skull Analysis Report

Which species probably had the largest cranial capacities? An index is a ratio of one measurement to another. Provided by University of Michigan. In addition, a chemical micro-environment inside the skull's braincase may have helped to preserve the delicate brain tissues and to replace them with a dense mineral, possibly pyrite, Figueroa said.

Student Exploration: Human Evolution - Skull Analysis Answer Key

H. sapiens neanderthalensis, H. heidelbergensis, and H. habilis. To calculate the opisthion index, divide your first measurement by your second measurement. Foramen magnum: the great hole in the underside of the skull that forms a passage from the brain cavity to the spinal canal. Download Homo skulls activity... "Not only does this superficially unimpressive and small fossil show us the oldest example of a fossilized vertebrate brain, but it also shows that much of what we thought about brain evolution from living species alone will need reworking, " Figueroa said. In the Coccocephalus fossil, the cranial nerves are intact inside the braincase but disappear as they exit the skull. The mystery object displayed several features found in vertebrate brains: It was bilaterally symmetrical, it contained hollow spaces similar in appearance to ventricles, and it had multiple filaments extending toward openings in the braincase, similar in appearance to cranial nerves, which travel through such canals in living species. Examining the skulls of living apes and our extinct ancestors allows us to explore characteristics which reflect the evolutionary relationships in our family tree. Student exploration: human evolution - skull analysis report. Species Opisthocranionopisthion Opisthocranionorale Opisthion index A. afarensis A. africanus P. boisei H. habilis H. erectus H. heidelbergensis H. sapiens neanderthalensis H. floresiensis 4. Friedman and Figueroa are continuing to CT scan the skulls of ray-finned fish fossils, including several specimens that Figueroa brought to Ann Arbor on loan from institutions in his home country, Brazil. Plus the it starts to grow in much bigger leaps and much earlier than bipedalism. Scientists thought that the extinct "hobbit" (Homo floresiensis) people had coexisted with modern humans (Homo sapiens) on the island of Flores for tens of thousands of years until they died out about 20, 000 years ago.

Student Exploration: Human Evolution - Skull Analysis Software

For example, all living ray-finned fishes have an everted brain, meaning that the brains of embryonic fish develop by folding tissues from the inside of the embryo outward, like a sock turned inside out. Australopithecines: hominins characterized by relatively small brains, large cheek teeth, a skeleton with some ape-like features and little evidence of culture. Species Maxillary angle Species Maxillary angle Pan troglodytes Australopithecus afarensis Australopithecus africanus Paranthropus boisei Homo erectus Homo heidelbergensis Homo sapiens neanderthalensis Homo floresiensis Homo habilis Homo sapiens 2. Form hypothesis: Chimps and humans eat similar foods. The Coccocephalus skull fossil is on loan to Friedman from England's Manchester Museum. Student exploration: human evolution - skull analysis. 319-million-year-old fish preserves the earliest fossilized brain of a backboned animal. Measure: To estimate the cranial capacity of each skull in the Gizmo, measure the area of the part of the cranium that houses the brain. The serendipitous find also provides insights into the preservation of soft parts in fossils of backboned animals. Measure the opisthion index of the other hominids available in the Gizmo. The other authors of the paper are Sam Giles of London's Natural History Museum and the University of Birmingham; Danielle Goodvin and Matthew Kolmann of the U-M Museum of Paleontology; and Michael Coates and Abigail Caron of the University of Chicago. C. Did any hominids have a larger cranial capacity than humans?

Additional information regarding the age, location, and discoverer of each skull can be Lesson Info. The other half is split between land vertebrates—birds, mammals, reptiles and amphibians—and less diverse fish groups like jawless fishes and cartilaginous fishes.

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