In class your professor shows you an MRI scan of a primate brain. The professor points
out the relatively large size of the olfactory bulb beneath the frontal lobe. This suggests
to you that this:
a. primate exhibits a derived trait for an enhanced sense of smell, since this trait is not
commonly observed in mammal species.
b. is a species of anthropoid because it has an increased reliance on vision.
c. primate must be a species of prosimian, as that suborder of primates relies heavily on
the sense of smell for many aspects of daily life.
d. species is nocturnal.
The people represented by the Denisova fossils likely:
a. interbred with Homo erectus.
b. share a common ancestor with Neandertals.
c. were isolated to the point of extinction.
d. looked very much like Neandertals.
James Hutton:
a. extensively studied fossils.
b. revealed that fossils would provide the history of past life.
c. created the first scientific classification of plants and animals.
d. provided geologic evidence necessary for calculating the time span of evolution.
A(n) _______ is a scientist who studies plant remains in the archaeological record.
a. paleontologist
b. paleoethnobotanist
c. ethnologist
d. zooarchaeologist
Apes first appear in Europe and Asia from about:
a. 17 mya.
b. 6 mya.
c. 10 mya.
d. 12 mya.
The core of the adaptive success characterized by population explosion was the result
of:
a. a decreased food supply.
b. an increased food supply.
c. agriculture.
d. a sedentary lifestyle.
Fitness trade-off refers to selection favoring which genotype?
a. homozygous dominant
b. homozygous recessive
c. heterozygous
d. No genotype is favored.
The most distinctive feature of ape dentition, which clearly distinguishes apes from Old
World monkeys, is:
a. a 2-1-2-3 dental formula.
b. a long canine tooth in males.
c. a Y-5 molar pattern.
d. bilophodont molars.
Comparisons of the bones from hunter-gatherers’ to later agriculturalists’ to modern
peoples’:
a. show a remarkable decline in size.
b. show an increase in size.
c. show variation in size to a high degree.
d. demonstrate biological change over time.
Which of the following biological processes involves a reduction in homeostasis?
a. senescence
b. Wolff’s law
c. prenatal development
d. adult stage of development
Predator-specific vocalizations in Diana monkeys vary based on:
a. the type of predator and the predator’s attack strategy.
b. conditioning in the lab by primatologists.
c. emotional impulses produced randomly and involuntarily.
d. individual factors, as in humans.
The best fossil evidence to suggest that Neandertals could produce a language like that
of modern humans comes from which bone(s) collected at Kebara, Israel?
a. the cervical (neck) vertebrae
b. the mandible
c. the ribs
d. the hyoid
A skull with a foramen magnum positioned at the back of the skull belongs to:
a. an individual that is fully bipedal, such as a human.
b. an individual that is fully quadrupedal, such as a dog.
c. an individual that is fully quadrupedal, such as a human.
d. none of the above (this trait is observed only in prosimians).
Electron spin resonance dating can provide dates when used on which type of material?
a. wood
b. shell
c. teeth
d. soft tissue such as muscle
The study of physical anthropology varies in that some physical anthropologists study:
a. potential for life on other planets.
b. the interaction between domestic animals and disease.
c. extinct and living species of primates.
d. changes in marine life.
Among all primates, humans have the:
a. largest body relative to other animals.
b. greatest level of biological adaptability.
c. largest body size.
d. largest brain relative to body size.
Polyandrous residence patterns represent:
a. a social grouping that includes multiple adult males and females.
b. one of the most common patterns in prosimians and Old World monkeys.
c. a social grouping in which males cooperate in parenting activities.
d. a social grouping that includes one male and multiple females.
The English demographer whose work on population growth greatly influenced
Darwin’s thinking on population adaptation was:
a. Jean-Baptiste de Lamarck.
b. Georges Cuvier.
c. Thomas Malthus.
d. Charles Lyell.
Genetic adaptation:
a. occurs at the population level via natural selection.
b. occurs at the individual level during childhood.
c. occurs at the individual level throughout an individual’s lifetime.
d. involves using material culture to make living possible in certain settings.
Monkeys underwent massive _______ in the Pliocene and Pleistocene.
a. extinction
b. adaptive radiation
c. migration
d. diversification
The first evidence of modern human traits, including increasing brain size and
dependence on material culture, shows up in:
a. Homo erectus.
b. Homo sapiens.
c. Homo neanderthalensis.
d. Homo habilis.
African monkeys, including Miss Waldron’s red colobus, are:
a. among the most endangered animals due to human exploitation of resources.
b. a healthy population living in a subtropical environment.
c. not highly adaptable to changing environments but do well in zoos.
d. among the most endangered animal species due to disease.
Quality, in reference to food, refers to the:
a. location of food sources.
b. ability to acquire food.
c. storage of food for future consumption.
d. amount of energy and protein a food provides.
One of the most important adaptive transitions in hominin evolution is:
a. the shift from foraging to farming.
b. having color depth perception.
c. a larger brain.
d. a change in the arm-to-leg ratio.
The gene responsible for lactose persistence among adults in Europe is a _______ gene.
a. structural
b. dominant
c. regulatory
d. Hox
Homo habilis had traits that include:
a. long, modern legs.
b. short legs.
c. a striding gait.
d. quadrupedalism.
While at the zoo you see an exhibit with a small group of primates and notice they have
wet, snout-like noses. This indicates a species of:
a. prosimian, because they retain the rhinarium not found in other mammal species.
b. anthropoid primate, because they retain the rhinarium commonly found in other
mammal species.
c. platyrrhine primate, because their nostrils do not point downward.
d. strepsirhini that retain a rhinarium found only in prosimian primates.
Which two genera may be the ancestors to the orangutan?
a. Gigantopithecus and Sivapithecus
b. Gigantopithecus and Khoratpithecus
c. Khoratpithecus and Gigantopithecus
d. Sivapithecus and Khoratpithecus
The best-accepted hypothesis for the dispersal of African monkeys to the New World is
that:
a. platyrrhines evolved from anthropoids in Africa that migrated to South America in
the Oligocene.
b. platyrrhines evolved from anthropoids in Africa that migrated across the Atlantic to
South America.
c. platyrrhines evolved from anthropoids in Africa that migrated south on land to
Antarctica, then to Patagonia.
d. Old and New World anthropoids evolved independently from different lineages in
Africa and South America, respectively.
Anthropology views humans as:
a. primates and religious beings.
b. primates, religious, and cultural beings.
c. biological and cultural beings.
d. cultural and religious beings.
Among all primates humans have the:
a. largest olfactory bulb.
b. greatest sense of hearing.
c. most developed vision.
d. most elaborate connections between different regions of the brain.
The ravine in northern Tanzania where many early hominin fossils have been recovered
(often referred to as the “cradle of humankind”) is:
a. Lake Turkana.
b. Olduvai Gorge.
c. Swartkrans.
d. Hadar.
Fission track dating can provide dates when used on which type of material?
a. sedimentary rock
b. shell
c. bone
d. igneous rock
Compared to australopithecines, Homo habilis is characterized by a:
a. smaller face.
b. bigger brain.
c. rounder and larger skull.
d. all of the above
Human production of stone or lithic tools is an example of:
a. linguistic comprehension.
b. subsistence strategies.
c. material culture.
d. ideology.