Question

Describe the major differences between a chimpanzee and the early hominins. This is easiest if you break up anatomy into its major components from head to toes: 1/ cranium and its parts and 2/ Post cranium and its parts.

Answer 1

Anatomical comparisons of apes, early hominins, Australopithecus, Homo erectus, and humans. A male chimpanzee skull is shown as an example of modern apes. Reduced canine size also evolved early in the hominin lineage, although early hominin canines were larger and more pointed than those of later hominins.

Humans are bipedal, and except for short bouts of uprightness, great apes walk on all fours. It's a profound disparity. Kevin Hunt, director of the Human Origins and Primate Evolution Lab at Indiana University, thinks humans' ancestors stood upright in order to reach vegetation in low-hanging tree branches.

While the genetic difference between individual humans today is minuscule – about 0.1%, on average – study of the same aspects of the chimpanzee genome indicates a difference of about 1.2%. The bonobo (Pan paniscus), which is the close cousin of chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes), differs from humans to the same degree.

hominid is a group of primates containing all bi-pedal apes, like humans. All hominids are primates, not all primates are hominids. Primates are the family that includes hominids.

1)Hominoids have a smaller brain. Hominids have a bigger brain. 2)Hominoids are quadrupeds , walk on all fours, but with flexible forelimbs. Hominids,by contrast, have an upright posture and biped locomotion ,walk on two feet.