Where was Sahelanthropus discovered?
a. South Africa
b. East Africa
c. the Rift Valley
d. Central Africa
e. Asia
Adaptive niche refers to
a. an adaptive advantages in a purely terrestrial environment.
b. mammalian characteristics which evolved from an arboreal environment.
c. an organism’s entire way of life.
d. a numerical device that indicates the number of each type of tooth.
e. adaptive benefit of surrounding forests and rivers.
Two people (both heterozygotes) are able to taste a chemical substance called PTC. The
ability to taste PTC is caused by a dominant allele (T). The inability to taste PTC is
caused by a recessive allele (t). What proportion of their children would be expected to
have the ability to taste PTC?
a. 3/4
b. 1/2
c. All
d. 1/4
e. 2/3
Recently discovered remains from the Tugen Hills, dated to about 6 million years ago
have been placed in which genus?
a. Sahelanthropu
b. Australopithecus
c. Paranthropus
d. Ardipithecus
e. Orrorin
Potassium-40 (40K)
a. decays to the gas, argon-40 (40Ar)
b. decays to carbon-14
c. has a full-life of 1.25 billion years
d. is the same as carbon-14
e. is destructive and therefore not used by paleoanthropologists
Approximately 3.7 million years ago, two or three hominins left their footprints across
the savanna of modern day Tanzania, clear evidence that
a. Apes were present in Tanzania
b. hominins walked bipedally
c. modern day Tanzania continues to be a savanna environment
d. hominins traveled in small groups
e. Tanzania is 3.7 million years old
The Skhūl site is dated to approximately ________ years ago.
a. 250,000-200,000
b. 75,000-43,000
c. 200,000-100,000
d. 130,000-100,000
e. 40,000
Chinese paleoanthropologists argue that Asian premodern human fossils evidence both
earlier and later characteristics. The more ancestral traits include
a. very large cranial capacities
b. a sagittal ridge
c. less flattened nasal bones
d. thin walls of the braincase
e. features that unquestionably substantiate that anatomically modern migrants from
Africa displaced local populations
The question of whether modern humans and Neandertals interbred at some point
a. was settled about ten years ago
b. was never an issue among paleoanthropologists
c. is far from settled
d. was called into question with the discoveries at Zhoukoudian
e. is established based on genetic evidence.
There is some evidence to suggest that Neandertals accomplished all of the following
except
a. experienced injuries while hunting
b. had language capabilities equivalent to modern humans
c. buried their dead
d. were capable of symbolic behavior
e. adapted to a cold environment
The eugenics movement
a. formed the basis for notions of racial equality in Nazi Germany
b. was popular throughout the 1970s.
c. is a now discredited view of racial purity
d. was begun by Charles Darwin
e. is supported in biological data
By about 2 mya, which of the following was true?
a. All hominins were members of the same genus.
b. There were one or more species of the genus Homo present in East Africa.
c. Modern humans were living alongside australopiths.
d. All hominins still lived only in East Africa.
e. There was only one hominid species present in Asia.
During the last glaciation in Eurasia,
a. human habitation was impossible
b. the entire area was permanently covered with ice-sheets
c. a warming trend at about 30,000 ya partially melted the glacial ice
d. hunting was impossible because there were no animals in the region
e. Neandertals became extinct.
What have researchers concluded from the fossil remains of hominin feet from South
Africa?
a. They indicate obligate quadrupedalism.
b. They indicate many forms of hominins spent considerable time in trees.
c. They were adapted for quadrupedalism.
d. They indicate the big toe could NOT have aided the foot in grasping.
e. Remains from hominin feet have not been found in South Africa
Cultural anthropology
a. was first developed as a discipline in the 17th century
b. includes the recovery and analysis of material culture from earlier civilizations
c. focuses solely upon the study of traditional societies
d. has no practical application in modern society
e. is the study of the patterns of belief and behavior found in modern and historical
cultures.
Two people (both heterozygotes) are able to taste a chemical substance called PTC. The
ability to taste PTC is caused by a dominant allele (T). The inability to taste PTC is
caused by a recessive allele (t). What proportion of their offspring would be expected to
be heterozygous?
a. 3/4
b. 1/2
c. All
d. 1/4
e. 2/3
Orangutans belong to which genus?
a. Pan
b. Pongo
c. Gorilla
d. Papio
e. Hylobates
In order for a mutation to be passed on to offspring, the mutation must
a. occur in a gamete
b. be beneficial
c. occur in a somatic cell
d. result in additional chromosomes
e. have negative evolutionary consequences
What is the term for traits that reflect specific evolutionary lineages and can be
informative of evolutionary relationships?
a. ancestral (primitive)
b. acquired
c. derived (modified)
d. convergent characters
e. analogies
Which of the following statements is not true?
a. Adult primate males tend to be dominant to females.
b. Dominant individuals appear to have priority access to desired food items.
c. High-ranking females probably have higher reproductive success than subordinate
females.
d. Dominance hierarchies create aggression and therefore do not impose a degree of
order in primate societies.
e. In groups containing a number of females associated with one or several adult males,
the males are generally dominant to females.
Which is not true about the Teshik-Tash remains?
a. They show evidence of hybridization.
b. The remains are a child not considered at first to be clearly a Neandertal.
c. They include tools of the Mousterian industry.
d. They have recently been evaluated using DNA analysis.
e. They demonstrate dispersion to central Asia.
Which of the following statements concerning RNA is false?
a. It contains the base uracil instead of thymine.
b. It is single-stranded.
c. It contains the same sugar as found in DNA.
d. It is able to pass through the nuclear membrane.
e. It is involved in the synthesis of proteins.
Habitat loss is a direct result of
a. Burgeoning insect populations
b. Flooding due to climate changes
c. Increases in human populations
d. Increases in animal habitats
e. Road building
The diversification of reptiles facilitated by the evolution of the reptilian egg is a good
example of which of the following?
a. parallel evolution
b. specialization
c. homology
d. adaptive radiation
e. devolution
The enzyme telomerase is characterized by all of the following except
a. codes for an enzyme that can lengthen telomeres
b. can make cells young again
c. has been called the “immortalizing gene”
d. allows for the cell to cease to divide
e. can contribute to understanding cellular function and cancer
Our use of antibiotics has dramatically altered the course of evolution, to the point that
a. antibiotics are no longer significant selective factors causing bacteria to evolve.
b. human technology is no longer responsible for the deadly nature of new diseases.
c. insecticides are now more prevalent in reducing malaria.
d. antibiotics are significant selective factors causing more virulent forms of bacteria.
e. at least 15% of degraded ecosystems have been restored.
Which of the following is not an important reason why primatology has become
increasingly important since the late 1950s?
a. Behavioral studies have implications for understanding natural forces that have
shaped human behavior.
b. The behavioral studies of any species provide a wealth of data on adaptation.
c. Nonhuman primates are our closest living relatives.
d. Many nonhuman primates are threatened or seriously endangered.
e. Recommendations can be made to better ensure treatment of humans
Evidence of Premodern Homo sapiens crania that show possible evidence of
cannibalism in the form of cut marks is represented at
a. Broken Hill
b. Tabun
c. Bodo
d. La Chapelle
e. Swanscombe
“Anthropocene” refers to
a. Hunting by humans for reasons other than acquiring food
b. Competition between humans and introduced non-native species that results in new
bacterial species
c. Destruction of human life on earth caused by overpopulation of bacteria
d. A geological era that recognizes sudden and dramatic changes caused by human
activities
e. A reflective view of the damage that humans cause river systems and oceans
Which of the following is not a polygenic trait?
a. stature
b. skin color
c. eye color
d. ABO blood type
e. hair color
Until recently, H. erectus sites outside of Africa all have shown dates later than the
earliest finds of species in Africa. This has led paleoanthropologists to assume that
a. the hominins who migrated to Asia and Europe descended from earlier Asian
ancestors
b. the sites outside of Africa are misdated
c. the earliest finds in Africa are misdated
d. the hominins who migrated to Asia and Europe descended from earlier African
ancestors
e. there is another, heretofore unknown hominin, who is the missing link
The evidence of deliberate burial of the dead by Neandertal is found at all the following
except
a. Sima de los Huesos
b. Tabun
c. Kabwe
d. La Chapelle
e. Kebara
Prehensile ability to grasp with five digits is
a. a variable trait in the order
b. characteristic only of monkeys
c. characteristic only of apes and humans
d. the only truly distinctive primate trait
e. is hindered by an opposable thumb
The two basic types of cells are somatic cells and
a. zygotes
b. gametes
c. autosomes
d. polar bodies
e. organelles