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

Dr Susannah ThorpeDr Jeremy Pritchard

Am I an Ape?

Christmas lecture

10s of years

100s of years

1000s of years

1,000,000s of years ago

MYA

Human Chimp Gorilla Orangutan Monkey

Human Chimp

Human

Australopithecus afarensisLucy, 3 mya1st to walk bipedally

Human

Homo habilis2 mya1st to use stone tools

Australopithecus afarensisLucy, 3 mya1st to walk bipedally

Human

Homo erectus1 mya1st to make fire & hunt

Homo habilis2 mya1st to use stone tools

Australopithecus afarensisLucy, 3 mya1st to walk bipedally

Dr Susannah ThorpeDr Jeremy Pritchard

Am I an Ape?…….Brains

Christmas lecture

Human Chimp

H. erectus

H. habilis

A. afarensis

Monkey ancestor

Human Chimp

H. erectus

H. habilis

A. afarensis

Monkey ancestor

Graph…………….

Dr Susannah ThorpeDr Jeremy Pritchard

Am I an Ape?…locomotion

Christmas lecture

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

Fe

mu

rH

um

eru

s

Humero-femoral index: 70

Measuring your humero-femoral index

<80 80-99

100 101-120

Dr Susannah ThorpeDr Jeremy Pritchard

Am I an Ape?…bipedalism

Christmas lecture

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

Lockable knees

pelvic tilt & valgus angle

Chimp and human bipedalism

Dr Susannah ThorpeDr Jeremy Pritchard

Am I an Ape?…footprints

Christmas lecture

Summary

Our relationships to other animals follow the same structure as our relationships to human relatives

Humans brains are big, but then so are the other apes

We are the only primate to walk bipedally, but actually there are many similarities to the gait of other apes

Dr Susannah ThorpeDr Jeremy Pritchard

I am an Ape!

Christmas lecture