 | Term | Definition |
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Paleoanthropologists |
scientists who study fossil evidence of human evolution |
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Hominids |
a group that comprimises humans and their immediate ancestors |
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Pelvis |
hipbone; can indicate whether an organism walked upright |
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Primate |
a member of the order Primates, the mammalian order that includes humans |
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Anthropoid Primate |
one of a subgroup of primates that includes monkeys and apes |
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Prosimian Primate |
a suborder of modern primates that includes lemurs, lorises, and tarsiers |
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Prehensile |
grasping, as in a primate's hand, foot, tail |
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Opposable Thumb |
a thumb that can be positioned opposite the other fingers |
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Dental Formula |
number and arrangement of teeth |
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Great Ape |
a gibbon, orangutan, gorilla, or chimpanzee |
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Bipedalism |
the ability to walk primarilyon two legs |
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Quadrupedal |
organisms that walk on four limbs |
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Australopithecines |
early hominid from the genus Australopithecus |
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Lucy |
unofficial female Australopithecus fossil |
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Multiregional Hypothesis |
suggests regional differences in phenotype have been developing for well over a million years |
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Recent-African-Origin Hypothesis |
states that Homo sapiens originated in Africa only about 100,000 to 200,000 years ago and then, like Homo erectus before them, left Africa |
