Science Homework Help

Beginning in the late Miocene and into the early Pliocene, upright walking tendencies began to develop among the hominin tribe.  Upright walking tendencies slowly transformed into obligate bipedalism during the pliocene within the hominin lineage.  This shift in locomotor strategy is notably marked by the gradual change in arm to leg ratio that we see when comparing early and later hominins.  Early hominins have short legs and very long arms while later hominins have longer legs and short arms.  

What you are doing.

Your task for this activity will be to compare and contrast the locomotor strategies of the following two hominin species: Ardipithecus ramidus and Australopithecus afarensis.  You will accomplish this by answering the following questions.

For this assignment you will have to do a bit of research outside of class readings.

What you are doing for points.

1. Based on the feet, which hominin had the best arboreal capabilities and why? 
   1. Note: You will loose points if you give non-relevant information.
2. Based on the feet, which hominin was the best on the ground? 
   1. Note: You will loose points if you give non-relevant information.
3. Lastly, I would like you to give a short summary of the general transformations in bipedal abilities  that occur over time as seen from Ardipithecus ramidus to Australopithecus afarensis.