Honors Biology Comparing Primates Activity

Background:
In The Descent of Man, the English naturalist Charles Darwin formulated the hypothesis that human beings and other
primates have a common ancestor. A hypothesis is a suggested explanation for observed facts. All scientific hypotheses,
including that of Darwin, are based on observations.

Darwin observed that human beings and other primates differ in many important ways. Although all primates have
opposable thumbs, the human hand is capable of more refined and exact movements than those of other primates. The human
braincase, or cranium, has more volume and more mass than those of other primates. In addition, human beings are bipedal,
or able to walk on two limbs. Other primates use all four limbs for locomotion. Darwin regarded these human traits as
adaptations, resulting from natural selection. The adaptations of other primates, he suggested, evolved differently.

More recently, biochemists have determined that certain proteins found in different primates contain many of the
same amino acid sequences. Scientists reason that because proteins are produced by DNA, human beings and other primates
must have a similar genetic makeup. Paleontologists have also found fossil remains that provide evidence that all primates
came from a common ancestor. These and other observations support Darwin’s hypothesis of human origins.

Pre-lab Questions:
1. Define opposable thumb.
2. List some similarities and differences between humans and other primates.

Materials: Ruler Pencil Protractor

Part A-Comparing Amino Acid Sequences in Vertebrate Proteins

1. Figure 1 (separate page) shows the amino acids found in selected sites in the hemoglobin of different vertebrates.
2. Going from left to right, note the position of each amino acid.
3. Count the number of similarities in the amino acid positions between humans as compared with each of the other
vertebrates.
4. Record your observations in Data Table 1.
5. Repeat step 3 only this time count the number of differences.
6. Record your observations in Data Table 1.

Data Table 1:
Similarities and Differences in Amino Acid Positions in Hemoglobin (copy in your lab notebook)
Organisms Number of Amino Acid Number of Amino Acid
Position Similarities Position Differences
Human and Chimpanzees 18 1
Human and Gorillas 17 2
Human and Baboon 13 6
Human and Lemur 10 9
Human and Dog 9 10
Human and Chicken 6 13
Human and Frog 4 15

1. From your observations in Data Table 1, which primate is most closely related to the human being?
2. Which non-primate vertebrate listed in Data Table 1 is most closely related to the human being?
3. Which non-primate vertebrate is least closely related to the human being from Data Table 1?

Part B-Comparing Primate Features

1. Determine the relative size of the lower jaw of each primate by measuring the length in millimeters of lines ab and bc
in Figure 2 (separate page).
2. Record the lengths in Data Table 2.
3. Record the product of these lengths in Data Table 2.
4. Determine the angle of the jaw by using a protractor to measure the angle xy in each primate skull in Figure 2
(separate page).
Honors Biology Comparing Primates Activity
5. Record your observations in Data Table 2.
6. Examine the teeth of each of the three primates in Figure 3 (separate page).
7. Count the number of incisors, canines, premolars, and molars of each primate in Figure 3.
8. Record your observations in Data Table 3.

Data Table 2. Comparison of Three Primate Skulls (copy in your lab notebook)
Skull Length of Lower Depth of Lower Area of Lower Angle of Jaw
Jaw (mm) (ab) Jaw (mm) (bc) Jaw (mm2)
A: Gorilla 41 mm 20mm (ab X bc)
820mm2 120
B: Chimpanzee 30 mm 15mm 450mm2 125
C: Human 20 mm 10mm 200mm2 90

Data Table 3. Comparison of Primate Teeth (copy in your lab notebook)

Number of Number of Number of Number of
Jaw
Incisors Canines Premolars Molars
A: Gorilla
B: Chimpanzee
C: Human

4. Which of the three primates shown in Figure 2 has the largest brain? What do you think is the name of this
primate?
5. What is the relationship between jaw size and brain size in these three primates?
6. From your observations in Data Table 3, what dental characteristics do the primates have in common?
7. Reexamine Figure 3. How would the diet of primate A differ from the diet of primate C?
8. Examine the two skeletons in Figure 4 (separate page). Compare both views of skeleton A with those of
skeleton B. Describe three differences between the human and the gorilla skeletons.

9. Go to https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/evolution/compare-skeletons.html to further compare human and

chimpanzee skeletons. Describe three differences between the human and the chimpanzee skeletons.
10. What is an advantage of being fully bipedal?
11. Certain fossil evidence indicates that the primate ancestors of humans lived in areas where trees were
scattered instead of clustered together. How might this type of environment have selected for the
development of bipedalism in humans.

Part C-The Future for Humans

12. What types of limitations do humans have that other organisms do not? List and describe at least 5.

13. If you were to fast-forward 10,000 years in the future what do you think the human body will evolve to
look like? Support your claims with evidence.

Go to https://www.livescience.com/62895-building-the-perfect-body.html to see what one evolutionary biologist

predicted about the future of human beings.

14. What body modifications did the evolutionary biologist in the article propose? What was her reasoning?

15. Do you agree or disagree with these changes? Support your claims with evidence/reasoning.

16. Using the principles from Darwin’s Theory of Natural Selection, would the biologist’s proposed human
evolution ever occur? Why or why not?
Honors Biology Comparing Primates Activity