Christmas lecture Am I an Ape Dr Susannah

Christmas lecture Am I an Ape? Dr Susannah Thorpe Dr Jeremy Pritchard

10 s of years

100 s of years

1000 s of years

1, 000 s of years ago MYA

Human Chimp Gorilla Orangutan Monkey

Human Chimp

Human Australopithecus afarensis Lucy, 3 mya 1 st to walk bipedally

Human Homo habilis 2 mya 1 st to use stone tools Australopithecus afarensis Lucy, 3 mya 1 st to walk bipedally

Human Homo erectus 1 mya 1 st to make fire & hunt Homo habilis 2 mya 1 st to use stone tools Australopithecus afarensis Lucy, 3 mya 1 st to walk bipedally

Christmas lecture Am I an Ape? ……. Brains Dr Susannah Thorpe Dr Jeremy Pritchard

Human Chimp H. erectus H. habilis A. afarensis Monkey ancestor

Human Chimp H. erectus H. habilis A. afarensis Monkey ancestor

Christmas lecture Am I an Ape? …locomotion Dr Susannah Thorpe Dr Jeremy Pritchard

Swinging by its arms Running on its legs We can work out how extinct species moved by studying their humero-femoral index: length of humerus vs. length of femur

Femur Humerus Measuring your humero-femoral index Humero-femoral index: 70

<80 80 -99 100 101 -120

Christmas lecture Am I an Ape? …bipedalism Dr Susannah Thorpe Dr Jeremy Pritchard

o Body shape o Greasy skin o Lots of sweat glands o Less body hair o Body fat o Crying salt tears o Human babies can swim

Chimp and human bipedalism o Lockable knees o pelvic tilt & valgus angle

Christmas lecture Am I an Ape? …footprints Dr Susannah Thorpe Dr Jeremy Pritchard

Summary o Our relationships to other animals follow the same structure as our relationships to human relatives o Humans brains are big, but then so are the other apes o We are the only primate to walk bipedally, but actually there are many similarities to the gait of other apes

Christmas lecture I am an Ape! Dr Susannah Thorpe Dr Jeremy Pritchard