Homo ergaster possessed some primitive characteristics of earlier hominids, including
a. a chin.
b. a high forehead.
c. large browridges.
d. postorbital constriction.
Dominance hierarchies are seen in multimale, multifemale groups because hierarchies
a. give low-ranking males a chance to compete.
b. let females know which males to mate with.
c. mediate male”male competition.
d. prevent infanticide.
A phylogeny
a. reflects developmental stages.
b. can only be used for closely related species.
c. reflects the evolutionary history of living species.
d. does not help us understand evolutionary events.
The most likely explanation for the evolution of modern human behavior is that
a. the components of modern human behavior and technology gradually evolved in
Africa along with modern human morphology over a period of about 200,000 years.
b. there was a human revolution in Asia 45,000 years ago.
c. what seems like a revolutionary change in Europe simply reflects the migration of
modern people from Asia to Europe.
d. modern human behavior arose 12,000 years ago with the advent of Mode 4 tool
industries.
Imagine a population of 0 AA, 60 Aa, and 40 aa individuals. What is the frequency of
each allele in this population?
a. A = .6 and a = .4
b. A = .5 and a = .5
c. A = .3 and a = .7
d. A = .4 and a = .6
The United States has
a. increased the number of imported primates in recent decades.
b. decreased the number of imported primates in recent decades.
c. not changed the number of imported primates in recent decades.
d. allows only the importation of certain primates.
Derived characteristics that define the order Primate include
a. bipedalism.
b. increased dependence on complex behavior, learning, and behavioral flexibility.
c. specialized molars, up to six incisors, and a lack of premolars.
d. highly developed olfaction (sense of smell).
Charles Darwin
a. advocated placing humans in the primate order.
b. agreed that humans should be placed in their own order based on our distinctive
mental abilities and upright posture.
c. did not comment in writing on the relationship of humans to other organisms.
d. did not think that humans should be classified with any other organisms.
Which of the following statements about early use of tools by hominins is NOT true?
a. Early hominin toolmakers were most likely right-handed.
b. Experimental analysis of fossil bone tools from australopithecine sites in South
Africa suggests that they were used as digging sticks.
c. It is clear that the australopithecines were not capable of making stone tools.
d. Mode 1 refers to the method used to make Oldowan stone tools.
A recently discovered early hominin, which dates to 3.5″3.2 mya and has a flat face, is
a. Orrorin tugenensis.
b. Ardipithecus ramidus.
c. Australopithecus afarensis.
d. Kenyanthropus platyops.
Microscopic analysis of Oldowan chipped stone tools indicates that they were used for
a. wood working and butchery.
b. sewing and piercing hides.
c. digging in termite mounds.
d. ritual activities.
Variation among groups at a single locus can be maintained by
a. haplotypes.
b. recombination.
c. founder effect.
d. single nucleotide polymorphisms.
Radiometric dating is problematic because
a. it cannot be used in conjunction with other dating techniques.
b. the earth’s magnetic field changes periodically.
c. these methods have relatively large margins for error.
d. many fossils of interest were present only during a limited period of time.
Recombination and crossing over are very important in the genetic process because
they produce
a. variation.
b. a new somatic cell.
c. DNA.
d. linked chromosomes.
Humans and nonhuman primates share a suite of traits, including grasping hands and
binocular vision, so their last common ancestor must have also shared this suite of
traits. These traits in humans and nonhuman primates is therefore an example of
a. balancing selection.
b. analogy.
c. recombination.
d. homology.
The nature”nurture debate proposes that
a. people vary simply because they have different genes and live in different
environments.
b. there is a clear distinction between the effects of genes (nature) and the effects of the
environment (nurture).
c. the expression of genes is dependent upon the local environment.
d. all of human behavior is determined by the genes.
Evolutionary psychologists believe that the human mind evolved to
a. deal with the pressures of living in densely populated urban areas.
b. allow humans to create more and more complicated technology.
c. solve the challenges of a foraging lifestyle.
d. avoid predators.
In meiosis,
a. haploid cells are produced from a single diploid cell.
b. haploid cells are produced from two diploid cells.
c. diploid cells are produced from a single diploid cell.
d. diploid cells are produced from two haploid cells.
The hominin H. heidelbergensis represents
a. a sister group of H. habilis.
b. a species found only in Asia.
c. archaic H. sapiens of the early Middle Pleistocene.
d. a hominin believed to have become extinct about 100,000 years ago.
Which of the following statements is true?
a. Diurnal primates are generally solitary.
b. Foraging and resting times are affected by ecological conditions.
c. Nocturnal primates are large in body size.
d. Foraging and resting times are dictated by diet.
Playback experiments of vervet monkeys show that
a. males can recognize their offsprings’ vocalizations.
b. mothers recognize the call of their own offspring and one another’s offspring.
c. offspring recognize the calls of their mothers.
d. all group members respond to calls of juveniles.
The Eocene primates had most of the features that modern primates share, including
a. grasping hands and feet.
b. claws.
c. small brains.
d. long snouts.
Are culturally transmitted behaviors always adaptive?
a. Yes, otherwise they would quickly disappear.
b. No, some such behaviors are adaptive, some are neutral, and some are maladaptive.
c. No, all such behaviors are neutral.
d. Anthropologists can”t really address the question of adaptiveness of cultural
behaviors
Olduvai bone and stone-tool accumulations were most likely
a. home bases.
b. butchery sites.
c. natural accumulations due to water movement.
d. plant extraction sites.
The behavior of the great apes
a. fits the social intelligence hypothesis very well.
b. includes tool use and foraging on foods that are difficult to process.
c. requires living in large groups.
d. is more socially complex than monkeys.
Microevolution is
a. the formation of new species.
b. the extinction of a species.
c. evolutionary change within a species.
d. the death of individuals.
Upper Paleolithic tools
a. are like Middle Paleolithic tools but date to a later time period.
b. were almost indistinguishable across broad geographic areas.
c. took more time to make and are more standardized compared with earlier
technologies.
d. are also known as Acheulean.
Peas were a useful subject for Mendel’s experiments because they have a number of
a. discontinuous traits.
b. mating strategies.
c. maladaptations.
d. canalized behaviors.
The platyrrhine primates
a. are found in Madagascar.
b. have no tails.
c. have a dental formula of 2:1:2:3.
d. are also called the New World monkeys.
Which of the following is the WEAKEST evidence in favor of early hominins obtaining
meat by scavenging?
a. Most large mammalian carnivores practice some scavenging.
b. Scavenging requires cunning.
c. Scavenging is never dangerous.
d. Scavenging is considered practical when migratory herds are not present.
Genetic drift always causes
a. changes in gene frequencies that are random with respect to adaptation.
b. adaptive changes in gene frequencies.
c. maladaptive changes in gene frequencies.
d. no change in gene frequencies.
Which of the following is NOT an example of how selection is able to produce complex
evolutionary changes in remarkably short periods of time?
a. Using artificial selection, people intentionally created dozens of different forms of
domesticated pigeons in just a few hundred years.
b. A study of fish from the genus Poeciliopsis shows that short generation times allowed
three different types of placenta to evolve in less than 2.4 million years.
c. Theoretical studies of the evolution of the eye in an aquatic organism show that
because of a short generation time, a complex eye could evolve in less than a million
years.
d. The fossil record indicates that the human brain took 2 million years to double in
size.
Which of the following is an adaptation?
a. The human eye.
b. Design by a divine creator.
c. Both the human and the fish eye, but humans are better adapted to their environments
than fish are to theirs.
d. The Grand Canyon.
Carbon-14 is described as unstable because
a. it starts to decay after a plant or animal dies.
b. it changes to carbon-12 faster than carbon-12 changes to carbon-14.
c. it is more susceptible to radiation than is carbon-12.
d. it never changes and is not a good isotope for radiometric dating.