KERALA PSC / BIOLOGY / EVOLUTION OF MAN / NOTES / OBJECTIVE QUESTIONS / STUDY MATERIALS / GENERAL KNOWLEDGE / KERALA PSC PRELIMINARY

 

KERALA PSC / BIOLOGY / EVOLUTION OF MAN / NOTES / OBJECTIVE QUESTIONS / STUDY MATERIALS / GENERAL KNOWLEDGE / KERALA PSC PRELIMINARY

KERALA PSC / BIOLOGY / EVOLUTION OF MAN / NOTES / OBJECTIVE QUESTIONS / STUDY MATERIALS / GENERAL KNOWLEDGE / KERALA PSC PRELIMINARY

·      Apes are represented by gibbons, orangutans, chimpanzees and gorillas.

·      ‘Homo sapiens’ appeared in either Africa or Asia 500000 years back and spread out. Today no other species is as widely distributed as animals.

·      Neanderthal specimen of man is excavated from Neander Valley of Germany. The Neanderthals lived 100000 to 30000 years ago. They were the typical cave humans, short with heavy brows, retreating foreheads, large jaws, a lumbering gait and stooped posture. They wore clothing and were good hunters.

·      ‘Cro-magnon’ man bears the closest resemblance to modern man. He was completely erect, and 6 feet tall. He belonged to Stone Age. He is the most recent pre-historic man.

·      Dryopithecus, Ramapithecus, Australo pithecus, and Homo erectus are prehumen types, ranging from 20 million years to 12 million years back.

·      The fossil record of humans and other primates is incomplete

·      Modern man and apes are recent products of evolution and both are thought to have descended from a common extinct ancestral form. The view that humans evolved from apes has been invalidated.

·      Primates are members of the order of mammals that includes monkeys, apes and human (together called anthropoids) as well as lemurs, lorises and tarsiers (together called prosmians).

·      Generally, they have forward directed eyes, gripping hands and feet opposable thumbs and big toes. They tend to have nails rather than claws with gripping pads on the ends of the digits, all adaptations to the climbing mode of life.

·      Ramapithecus: Extreme reduction of canines, modification of the chewing teeth, to be much stronger

·      Development of bipedalism: walking on two feet, and then an erect posture and free hands. Terrestrial living and balance of head on the spinal column. Terrestrial gathering economy.

·      Australopithecus: Walked erect with a curved back, larger size of brain barrel like trunk with robust build. Meat eaters and gathers, but still not hunters but scavengers.

·      Homo erectus: More rounded head, 5 feet in height and had strong bones. Made stone tools, started hunting ‘Domesticated’ fire.

·      Homo Sapiens: More strengthened chewing muscles more developed brain (all lobes developed). Humans, known taxonomically as Homo Sapiens.

·      Anatomically modern humans originated in Africa about 200000 years ago, reaching full behavioural modernity around 50000 years ago.

·      The study of human evolution encompasses many scientific disciplines, including physical anthropology, primatology, archaeology, linguistics and genetics.

KERALA PSC / BIOLOGY / EVOLUTION OF MAN / NOTES / OBJECTIVE QUESTIONS / STUDY MATERIALS / GENERAL KNOWLEDGE / KERALA PSC PRELIMINARY