Piltdown Man Hoax

A small village of England named Piltdown, became famous for the forgery of archeological finds. In 1912, an amateur archeologist named Charles Dawson found  and ape's jaw with the teeth craved down to appear as a humans with the help of a geologist named Arthur Smith Woodward and a paleontologist named Father Teilhard de Chardin. British paleoanthropologists came to accept this finding as a specimen  with a human cranium and an ape's jaw. This became significantly important because it was thought up to be the missing link between apes and humans. The hoax was not uncovered up until the end of World War II in 1953. Other prehistoric human remains were discovered around the 1920 and said to be from an earlier time than the Piltdown Man. This brought up questions and a full on investigation was brought about and by the use of fluorine, the Piltdown Man bones were found to be only 100,000 years old. Scientists were astonished to find out they were duped.

Some human faults such as greed, and desperation are to blame for this incident. Charles Dawson could have wanted to be known so he could have came up with that fake remain that fooled everyone. Or maybe he was just desperate for the attention that he came up with that scheme.

Tests were conducted on the Piltdown Man fossils using a fluorine test which allows scientists to roughly date them. They discovered the fossils were not that old and analyzed the fossils a lot more thoroughly.

I do not believe it is possible to take the "human" out of science, it would not be the right thing to do because the whole aspect of science is to explore the unexplainable. Taking out the human from science will leave humanity at a stand still. Humans have the thirst to thrive and prosper, and the best place to do that would be in science.

I have learned that from this historical event, it shows us to not believe everything we see, there is always another side to a story that should be taken under consideration. 

Monkey Business

Sociality and Mating patterns

-Lemurs (Prosimians/Strepsirhini)

      Lemurs are naturally only found on the island of Madagascar off the coast of Africa.  They can also be found in some small neighboring islands such as Comoros.

      Lemurs live in groups, usually less than 15 and are very territorial, although they seem to be very social as well. Females usually share nests with their young, other female lemurs, and possibly with a male. Multi-male groups are the most common among their species. The females usually stay with the group they were born into, as for males, they leave their group for another once the have sexually matured.

    

           Madagascar has two completely different climate regions, the rain forest in the east and dry regions in the west. They usually survive the climate by living in smaller groups, have strict breeding seasons, and store fat. Resources are limited during the harsh climate so they resort to different food sources such as seeds, bugs, and leaves.

  Spider Monkey (New World Monkey/Platyrrhini)

   The spider monkey lives in the rain forests of Peru, Brazil, South America and even Central Mexico.

   They are usually found at the top of the trees moving around freely worry free. They travel in groups of about 15 but separate during the day to avoid predators. With spider monkeys, the male is the one that stays in the group and the females leave and join other groups at puberty. The females are the ones that choose who they will mate with, the male normally know when to mate by watching the female when they’re on their cycle. Their cycles last up to 27 days, and they mate for about 3 days.

The Spider monkey survives because of its long limbs, being extremely acrobatic, in the trees it is nearly impossible to be caught by a predator. They use they’re tail as a fifth limb, aiding them in moving around. But once on floor, the spider monkey is clumsy and vulnerable. The spider monkey also seems to be an endangered species, major threats are habitat loss and hunting by humans.

Baboon (Old World Monkey/Cercopithecidae)

The baboon can be found in Africa, South and East Asia, some rainforests, and even in the mountains. Baboons live in a variety of environments, being able to adapt to them.

Baboons are very loud and love to communicate with one another. Baboons often argue and even fight with each other usually it is the males over a female. But in some rare cases the females have fought over food or their young ones. Without all the commotion, the baboons wouldn’t succeed. Baboons are completely different when it comes to mating. They have to offer some sort of a bribe such as bananas and have to caress the female so that she will mate with him.

Baboons are extremely adaptive, from snowy mountains to dry plains. Whatever the environment, the baboons are very intelligent and will learn to adapt quickly.

Gibbon (Lesser ape/Hylobatidae)

The Gibbon is found in the tropical and subtropical parts of India, Indonesia, and even China. 

Gibbons are social creatures but are extremely territorial. They defend their territory with their amazing vocal abilities that can be heard from 1 km away. Gibbons are a bit more attached than other primates, once two gibbons mate, they will be together for life. They often sing in order to attract their mates.

The gibbon species is endangered due to human agriculture, they are slowly losing their habitats. They are also hunted, humans sell their body parts for medicine.

Chimpanzee (Great ape/Hominidae)

Chimpanzees are found in Central and Western Africa. They are omnivores meaning they eat plants and meat. The scavage the forest in search for fruits, seeds, and plants. They drink water by chewing up a plant and dipping it in 

water so that it soaks up the water, and they make a fresh nest every night.

Chimpanzees live in really large groups but travel in small ones, they spend alot of time together in the trees and on the ground. They often groom each other and share food with one another.

Chimpanzees are hunted and killed for their meat, this species is endangered. There were about 2 million chimpanzees and today there are about 200,000.

Homologous vs. Analogous Traits

Homologous

Two species that carry a similar Homologous traits are cats and dogs, they both posses the paw trait. 

Both animals carry the homologous paw trait, although both species are completely different. Cats coming for the feline species and dogs from the canine species. Both animals differ on their body structures, dogs having a broad muscular structure and cats having a small and flexible structure. They both carry the same trait but use their paws for completely different things. A dog's paws are used to run faster, longer, and make sharper turns than most animals, they also use their paws to dig and bury things such as bones and other items. As for cats, they use their paws for cleaning themselves, climbing trees, and even when playing. Cats often try to catch thing with their mouth and paws when they chase things.

The common ancestor of cats and dogs would be the extinct mammalian carnivore called the Miacids, they gave rise to cats, bears, dogs, skunks, mongooses, hyenas, and all other felids (ancestor of the feline family) and canids (ancestor of the canine family).

Analogous

Both the human and octopus eye are very similar and is considered a analogous trait.

The human eye and the eye of an octopus are almost identical, the only difference being that the human eye has a blind spot. For example, if you close your right eye, look at the "L" with your left eye, and the "R" will disappear (if close enough). 

              R                                             L

As for the octopus eye, it has no blind spot. Both of these species are similar, the only difference being the blind spot.

The common ancestor of a human and an octopus would be found 700 million years ago, a wormlike creature with eyespots. This creature's eye wasn't as complex or as developed as ours.

 

DNA Strand

TGUATACCAACCAAACGTGAGCTGAACAACAAGTAATCACUT

Darwinism

Charles Darwin's theory on Natural Selection was greatly influenced by Alfred Russel Wallace, being the co-author of the first novel on natural selection: On the Tendency of Species to Form Varieties; and on the Perpetuation of Varieties and Species by Natural Means of Selection (1858). 

Other than his novel on natural selection, Wallace was a great influence to the scientific community. Publishing more than 800 articles and 22 books, and being the main voice of the anti-vaccination movement. Wallace collected birds and beetles for research, analyzing the different adaptations each species had being from different regions, in his words "the survival of the fittest". 

 Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/31597263/ns/technology_and_science-science/t/forgotten-evolutionist-rediscovered-last/#.UIoe4LTWxUQ

In Darwin's theory, he explains how some organisms are just a better "fit" to the environment allowing them to better survive and have a better chance for reproducing and surviving. This is very similar to Wallace's theory on "survival of the fittest". In other words, the organisms that can better adapt will have a higher chance of survival. Darwin also explains how those organisms with adaptive traits will better survive that those with beneficial traits when environmental change occurs. Wallace's theory is similar in the fact that he stated these traits were forced, when disaster occurred, these organisms would adapt instead of over time. I believe Wallace had a positive impact on Darwin's theory.

In all, Darwin would have still come to the conclusion of natural selection without the help of Wallace. Darwin had already come out with this similar theory and decided to share his ideas next to Wallace, together they wrote the novel, On the Tendency of Species to Form Varieties; and on the Perpetuation of Varieties and Species by Natural Means of Selection (1858). 

The church affected Darwin's theory on natural selection because it went against the bible stating man was created by God instead of evolution. They frowned upon his theory and called in blasphemy, a confrontation at the 1860 meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science in Oxford.