Chimpanzees Essays

  • The History of Human Evolution

    1520 Words  | 4 Pages

    sapiens. We can declare that all humans are part of the hominid family, yet not all hominids can be considered humans. However all humans are primates; although humans have developed very distinct traits from its genetically similar primate, the chimpanzees, such as bipedalism, meaning walking on two legs. “Bipedalism seems to be one of the earliest of the major hominine characteristics to have evolved.”(Microsoft Encarta) Bipedalism enabled humans to develop specific physical traits to accommodate

  • The Discovery of Ardipithecus Kadabba, the Oldest Hominid

    1175 Words  | 3 Pages

    the oldest known hominids, and the first to branch off from chimpanzees. Also an implication may be that “the newly evolved hominids were living in radically different, less competitive social structure than seen in modern chimps” (Sanders). The sharp canine would probably be used to injure, and in fights between males in hopes to impress females. In today’s chimps the fact that Ardipithecus Kadabba (as closely related to chimpanzees as it is) lacks this feature is an indicator of this. The

  • hierarchy of Morality

    976 Words  | 2 Pages

    internal cohesion and external threat. However morality served both equally well. In Darwinism, Dominance and Democracy by Somit and Peterson, the authors state, "Humans are social primates, closely (almost embarrassingly) akin genetically to the chimpanzees and only slightly less so to the gorillas. Working over at least 10 million years, natural selection has endowed the social primates with a predisposition (to understate the matter) for hierarchical social structures. That is, they invariably form

  • Xenotransplantation

    3337 Words  | 7 Pages

    transplantation of organs, cells, or tissues from animal species into human beings, has been heralded as a promising technology that will help us save more lives and lessen the dire shortage of transplantable organs. Organs from pigs, goats, monkeys, chimpanzees, and baboons have been used in xenotransplant experiments conducted so far. It promises to be a good treatment option for patients with end-stage organ failure (Williams 12). The transplant surgery could be scheduled at the patient’s convenience

  • Chimpanzee

    2294 Words  | 5 Pages

    wild chimpanzees kill and eat infants of their own species. (Goodall, 1986:151) Although there is not a clear answer why chimps engage in this very violent and sometimes gruesome behavior there are many ideas and suggestions. This essay will deal with chimpanzee aggression, cannibalism and infanticide. This paper will present information on major research studies performed in Africa and analyze how and why this strange behavior occurs in a commonly thought peaceful primate. Wild chimpanzees(Pan troglodytes

  • Australopithecus Afarensis

    608 Words  | 2 Pages

    humanlike teeth, pelvis and leg bones resembled those of modern man. Females were smaller than males. Their sexual dimorphism was males:females; 1.5. A. afarensis was not as sexually dimorphic as gorillas, but more sexually dimorphic than humans or chimpanzees. A lot of scientists think that Australopithecus afarensis was partially adapted to climbing the trees, because the fingers and toe bones of the species were curved and longer than the ones of the modern human. A. afarensis is classified as

  • Jane Goodall

    678 Words  | 2 Pages

    Mifflin Company, 1990. Jane Goodall’s books, Through a Window, In the Shadow of Man, and The Chimpanzees of Gombe, recount her many years as an observer of chimpanzees and other species of monkeys. In Through a Window, she gives her account of thirty years with chimpanzees in the village of Gombe, off of Lake Tanganyika. During those thirty years with her son and husband, she observed and researched the chimpanzees with the help of other researchers. This book is a collection of the observations and data

  • Comparing How Various Anthropologists Discovered Anthropology as a Career

    2273 Words  | 5 Pages

    another. Anthropologists have stumbled upon or discovered the world of anthropology in their own ways. Barbara Smutts decided that she would study anthropology at the age of 13 (Rosenthal, 23). After reading Jane Goodall's first article about chimpanzees and with her love of animals and science she knew that anthropology would be her career (23). Adrienne Zihhnan, like Smutts, stumbled upon anthropology after reading an article. She read a book by Margaret Mead for a course at Miami University (Shell

  • extinction of great apes

    976 Words  | 2 Pages

    The great apes are humankind’s closest relatives. Great apes include gorillas, chimpanzees, orangutans, and bonobos, which are also known as pygmy chimps. At the turn of the century, there were approximately one million chimpanzees in Africa. This number has declined down to 150,000. Mountain gorillas have halved in size over the last ten years, leaving only 320 to roam the trees of their homeland. Some say these great apes will face extinction within a decade. Why is this the case and should we

  • Ardipithecus Ramidus Kadabba: The Oldest Hominid

    1182 Words  | 3 Pages

    formerly discovered human ancestor by more than a million years. The discovery was of fossil remains of a hominid that lived in present day Ethiopia between 5.2 and 9.8 million years ago. (Hominids include all species following the split as of the chimpanzees on the “human” side of the evolutionary tree.) “Analyses of the hominid indicate that they belonged to a previously unidentified species, which anthropologist Yohannes Haile-Selassie of the Cleveland Museum of Natural History and his colleagues

  • human nature

    505 Words  | 2 Pages

    What is human nature? It is very simple. Human nature refers to the patterns of behavior that are typical of our species or our kind. Human undergoes change as all humans grow up they nature seems to change; the environment someone grow up in effects that persons nature. To fully understand human nature Dr. Marvin Harris takes us on trip to time, which makes sense because if we better understand our past and our origin we will better understand our very existence and our nature. We will know more

  • Are Apes Capable Of Using The Language?

    843 Words  | 2 Pages

    Are Apes Capable Of Using The Language? Scientists have shown that such mammals as chimpanzees, gorillas, and orangutans are capable of learning and using ASL (American Sign Language) and several artificial languages like, for example, «Yerkish.» However, there is a controversy in how far that ability of great apes spans. There are two different groups of researchers, experimenting with language and apes, those who are in favor of a «traditional» approach, and those who prefer a new, «modern»

  • The Deadly Ebola Virus

    1292 Words  | 3 Pages

    1976 outbreak C. 1995 outbreak D. 1989 U.S. outbreak III. What is Ebola A. The Ebola virus in general B. Transmission C. Symptoms D. 1 in 10 victims survive IV. No treatment V. Contraction of Ebola A. Must infect animal first B. Chimpanzees are the suspected hosts VI. What is to blame A. Poor facilities are impart to blame B. Inadequate surveillance systems C. Poor governmental quoperation VII. Prevention and what it helping A. More money B. Hospitals staffs are now better

  • Fire as technology and influence on society

    2028 Words  | 5 Pages

    alongside humanity, each growing in ways that wouldn't have been possible without the other. We can only speculate as to how humans began to control fire, yet it can safely be assumed that humans are not the only species able to work with fire. Chimpanzees have been taught to light cigarettes, and orangutans have been observed maneuvering sticks, which they caught on fire, for a short time before the fire burned out (Goudsblom 25). The interesting thing; however, is that fire is universally used by

  • Manipulation In The Uplift War

    1442 Words  | 3 Pages

    called The Uplift War, the reader is presented with a world in which humans have not only become a space faring species and made contact with extraterrestrials, but also made an astounding achievement on their own world; they have made dolphins and chimpanzees into thinking, sentient creatures through a process called uplift. Uplift is a process of elevating animal species to full sapience through methods of breeding and genetic engineering. The uplifted species, known as clients, then serve their patrons

  • Biological Differences that Exist Between Individuals in a Population

    3736 Words  | 8 Pages

    differences between other primates and ourselves and allows us to trace these evolutionary relationships. For example, such a study has determined that humans share approximately 98.6% of their DNA (their genetic code) with gorillas, 98.8% with chimpanzees and 97.6% with orangutans 2. Approaching human variation from the perspective of the anthropologist leaves a vast field of study before the world of medicine. One of the most fascinating examples of human variation is the found in albinism.

  • The Significance of Interspecies Communication

    2373 Words  | 5 Pages

    attended Stanford University, where she first encountered a chimpanzee using sign language to communicate with humans (Adams 1999). Soon after that, she became fascinated with Koko and the possibility of working with her in the same manner as the chimpanzees in the video. . The name Hanabi-Ko, which is Japanese for "Fireworks Child," was given to the gorilla, because of her Fourth of July birthday and Koko became her nickname (Patterson 1978). In 1972, when Dr. Patterson first visited Koko in the

  • Essay On Chimpanzees

    1023 Words  | 3 Pages

    Chimpanzees are described as humans’ nearest relatives in the animals’ world. There are two species of these intelligent apes and both share about 99 per cent of their DNA with humans, which means that genetically they have more in common with human than with gorillas or orangutans. However, chimpanzees are described based on four major characteristics which are the physical, living behavior, feeding behavior and reproductive behavior (refer to Figure 1 in Appendix 1). The first major characteristic

  • Polygyny benefits Society

    3142 Words  | 7 Pages

    which a man is not allowed to enter into more than one union. In fact, ethologists now believe that only one to two percent of all species may be monogamous (Tucker). None of the simian species are strictly monogamous; our closest relatives, the chimpanzees, practice a form of group marriage. Among the 849 human societies examined by the anthropologist Murdock (1957), 75% practiced polygyny. Many peoples have been said to be monogamous, but it is difficult to infer from the data at our disposal whether

  • Chimpanzees Essay

    1736 Words  | 4 Pages

    intellectual capacity of chimpanzees and other primates. According to National Geographic, chimpanzees are one of our closest living relatives; we share ninety-eight percent of our DNA with them (“Chimpanzees”). Chimpanzees can be naturally found in Southern Senegal, the Congo River, Western Uganda, and Western Tanzia; Gombe National Park in Tanzia is the first park in Africa that was specifically developed for chimpanzees (“Chimpanzee”). Although it can be shocking for some, chimpanzees are dexterous individuals