Name ____________________________________________ Date ______________

Comparing Primates.2014

Activity: Comparing Primates - From Gorillas to Humans

Goal: To identify the changes that occurred among primates, from

gorillas to humans.

Background Information: About 6 million years ago, the primates known as hominoids
which include gorillas and chimpanzees gave rise to a small group of species now
considered to be the closest relatives to humans. This small group of species is called
hominids. Hominids, which include humans and closely related primates, are members
of the human family known as Hominidae. Although these early hominids were not yet
humans, they did take evolutionary paths that distinguish them from other hominoids.
During their evolution, many changes have occurred to the basic skeleton of these
hominids. In this activity, you will identify some changes that have occurred among early
hominoids and the hominids of today.

Materials: metric ruler, drawings of hominid jaws and fingers, calculators, drawings of
different jaws, drawings of different fingers

Procedure:

1. What I Know: Write two sentences describing what you already know about how
humans have changed over time. (You can use your experience with the activity
Digging for Differences and your observations of the hominid skulls as
examples.)
 2. Observations:

A. Jaw Index: Using the drawings of the hominid jaws to make measurements of
the jaw index.
1. Measure the width of the jaw by measuring the length of the line between
the back molars. Your measurements will be in centimeters (cm).
2. Measure the length of the jaw by measuring the line from the back of the
mouth to the front teeth. Record these measurements for the human,
Austalopithecus, and the gorilla on the data table.
3. To measure the jaw index, multiply the jaw width by 100 and then dividing
by the length of the jaw. This is the jaw index. Find the jaw index for each
of the hominoids on the data table.

Jaw Index = Jaw Width X 100

Jaw Length

Data Table:

Hominoids Width of Jaw (cm) Length of Jaw(cm) Jaw Index

Human

Australopithecus

Gorilla

B. Thumb Index: Using the drawings of the hominid fingers to make measurements
of the thumb index.
1. Measure the length of the thumb and the length of the index finger. Record
these measurements on your data table for each of the hominids.
2. To measure the thumb index, multiply the thumb length by 100. Divide by
the index finger length. Record the thumb index for each of the hominoids
on the data table.

Thumb Index = Thumb Length X 100

Index Finger Length

Data Table:

Hominoids Length of Thumb Length of Index Thumb Index

(cm) Finger (cm)
Human

Australopithecus

Gorilla
3. Questions: Answer the following questions in complete statements.
a. What trend did you observe regarding the thumb index for humans,
Australopithecus, and gorilla? (Hint: Did the thumb index increase or decrease
as hominoids become more advanced?)

b. What trend did you observe regarding the jaw index for humans,
Australopithecus, and gorilla? (Hint: Did the jaw index increase or decrease as
hominoids became more advanced?)

c. Do you think Australopithecus was a hominid with characteristics somewhere

in between those of gorillas and humans? Give evidence from your data to
support your answer.

d. Why is it an advantage for a human to have a longer thumb in relation to the

index finger?

e. Based on your observations, how did the jaw change over time?

f. Based on your observations, how did the thumb change over time?

4. What I Wonder: Pose a why or how question about what you may still want to
know or wonder about this topic.
5. Claim and Evidence Writing Prompts: Use the following prompts to help you
construct your lab conclusion, What I Learned.

Goal: State the goal of this lesson.

The goal of this lesson is

Claim: What did you learn from the activity that satisfies the goal of this
lesson? This is an I Learned statement.
I learned that

Evidence: How can you prove from your observations that you learned
what you claim? This can be a general statement that you will explain in
detail in your explanation.
I know this because.

Explanation: Use specific data from your observations to support your

claim and describe the evidence. Use details to support your claim.

Concluding Statement: Reword the goal and either add information you
learned about the topic from your text book, class discussions, and/ or
personal research OR you can extend the statement by adding a relevant
question.

6. What I Learned: Write at least a one paragraph summary of what you learned from
completing this activity. Use the Claims and Evidence Writing Prompts to help you
compose your summary.