The Emergence of Hominins
The fossils of hominins (human and human-like species) provide fragmentary glimpses into our evolutionary past. For an overview of hominin species and their importance in the study of human evolution, please check out this brief video (https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=DZv8VyIQ7YU ) from the American Museum of Natural History.
In this post, please refer to the ‘Hominin Charts’ in Chapter 9 (pages 28 – 38) and select two hominins for further analysis. This is the list of the different genera of hominins in the Hominin Charts:
Genus Sahelanthrapus
Genus Orrorin
Genus Ardipithecus
Genus Paranthropus
Genus Australopithecus
Genus Kenyanthropus
Some genera only have a single species, while other genera have multiple. Please choose two species from the following list (Chapter 9, page 28-38):
Sahelanthropus tchadensis
Orrorin tugenensis
Ardipithecus ramidus
Ardipithecus kadabba
Australopithecus anamensis
Australopithecus afarensis
Australopithecus bahrelghazali
Australopithecus deyiremada
Australopithecus garhi
Australopithecus africanus
Australopithecus sediba
Australopithecus prometheus
Paranthropus aethiopicus
Paranthropus boisei
Paranthropus robustus
Kenyanthropus platyops
Once you have selected two species, please refer to this database ( https://humanorigins.si.edu/evidence/human-fossils/species ) from the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History to find further information.
In this post, please answer the following questions:
Which two hominin species have you chosen?
Where were fossils of these two species discovered?
What is unique about their mobility, dentition, cranial features, and brain size?
What do these two species teach us about human evolution?
Chapter 9- https://pressbooks.calstate.edu/explorationsbioanth2/chapter/9/
