Australopithicus factual info
Stephen Younge (SDYOUNGE@ELECOM2.watstar.uwaterloo.ca)
Sat, 24 Jun 1995 23:00:30 GMT
Okay, anyone who is interested -
Are the following capsules of information factually correct?
Think of it as a test of things you learned long ago!
Australpithicus afarensis
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. 5 mya - 3 mya
. the earliest Australophiticus
. walked erect
. 310-485 cc brain, "ape-like" organization
. 3.5 to 5 feet tall, very stocky
. lived in trees and on the ground
. no tools yet
* NOTE: bipedalism came long before human-like brain!
Australpithicus africanus
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. 2.8 mya - 1.8 mya
. 428-510 cc brain, roughly the size of a chimp's
. brain expanding but still "ape-like"
. built like A afarensis
. maturation period still as short as apes (3 years)
. represents either an evolution towards homo, or
an evolutionary dead-end
Stephen Younge
University of Waterloo
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Stephen Younge
239A Cedarbrae Avenue
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