Piltdown Hoax

• In 1912 in a village called Piltdown in England 3 scientists made an "amazing" discovery. Charles Dawson, Arthur Smith Woodland, and Father Pierre found what they claimed to be the skull of an ancient human ancestor from millions of years ago. The fossils were found in a gravel pit in the town of Piltdown. For decades the find had scientists fooled to believe that was an early human ancestor. Until in 1949 when scientists were able to do a fluorine test on the skull and were puzzled when it turned out to look like it was only a few hundred thousand years old. Then in 1953 scientists took a better look at the skull with better dating methods and discovered many shocking things. First, that the skull was dyed a darker color to make it appear aged over millions of years. Second, the bones had been cut with a steel knife after they had already been fossilized in several areas so that you cannot get a complete picture of the skull and must fill in the blanks yourself. Third, the teeth on the jawbone were filed down to make them flat like a humans teeth would look. Lastly, the test proved that the skull was only about a hundred years old and was from the bones of a female chimpanzee. Father Pierre was very quiet when this was discovered, and others in the scientific community felt their credibility hurt and wanted to move past this hoax and continue with good honest science. It is not certain who was behind the hoax, but Charles Dawson is a very good suspect because he made the first discovery and the last one.

• This scenario is a great example of several human faults. Greed could have played a motivational role in this crime, the person(s) behind it wanted fame, attention, and recognition even if it was based on a lie. Then there was jealousy, some other countries had already found ancient human fossils, but England had not. In some peoples eyes this made England inferior in some ways to these other countries this is a possible motive for the hoax. Another is deceit to gain credibility, the findings of the skull showed that ancient humans developed a large skull before they could walk (which is not true) matched the theory of a scientist at the time. It is possible that he set up the findings so that his theory would be accepted as truth. Lastly is spite, one of the people working for Dawson did not like him and could have planted the fossils to ruin his reputation.

• The positive aspects of the scientific process are the advanced dating technology that aloud for the hoax to be discovered. Scientists first used a fluorine test that raised questions about the Piltdown Skull. A few years later in 1953 radiocarbon dating was used to show that the skull was barely 100 years old.  

• It is not possible to remove the "human" factor from science. A big part of science involves new ideas and theories being proven or disproven that help us to better understand the world around us. No machine can form its own ideas or think as critically as a human can so at this time it is not possible to remove the human factor from science. Even if we could I would not want to remove humans from science. machines can never compare to the ambition, intelligence, and hard work of scientists and they should never be replaced. However, humans work should be checked and tested so that it can be proven by everyone, to protect ourselves from another Piltdown hoax.

• Always be skeptical, I would never take something at face value from an unverified source. Even well known sources can use their credibility to lie and manipulate people because they bank on nobody checking the facts because they are a credible source. Do your own thinking, don't let others think for you. If you figure things out by your own research and test the research of others you will not be so easy to fool.

Locomotion

 

 

Lemurs are found on the island of Madagascar. The island has a very harsh climate, it is a very unpredictable place to live. Sometimes there will be long periods of drought and other times there will be excessive flooding due to cyclones. Madagascar is composed of rain forests and dry forests. Due to the climate there is many species of lemurs that have adapted to live successfully in the different parts of the island. Locomotion in lemurs varies a lot because of the diversity of the species. However, the locomotion of these animals can be put into two main groups. There are lemurs who are vertical clingers and those who leap. Depending on their environment lemurs will use one or the other form of locomotion. Lemurs use their strong back legs to vertically jump from tree to tree, when the next tree is to far to jump to then the lemurs climb to the ground and leap sideways on two legs until they get to the next tree and can climb up it.

 

 

Spider Monkeys live in the tropical rain forests of central and South America. They spend most of their time in trees and prefer to thrive in areas with a canopy over them. Scientists have taken note of several locomotion patterns in spider monkeys. The three main types of locomotion they use are quadrupedal, suspensory, and bipedalism. In quadrupedal locomotion they use all four limbs to walk or run. In suspensory locomotion is when they hang, climb, or glide from tree to tree. Bipedalism is when they use two limbs to leap, walk, or run. The type of locomotion they choose is based on their environment. They mostly use suspensory locomotion when they are in an area with a lot of trees close together. When they need to move in an area with less trees however, they must use another form of locomotion.

 

 

Baboons live in Africa or Arabia. They prefer to live in the savannah or other partially-arid climates. This means that baboons spend most of their time living on the ground. The locomotion exhibited by baboons is quadrupedal which means they walk on all fours. The reason they do this is because of their environment. They usually live in open areas and must walk from place to place. Unlike some primates baboons don't swing from tree to tree they use their four legs to walk around because the areas they inhabit have little to no trees.

 

 



 

Gibbons live in rain forests in southern Asia. For the most part they live in trees. The forests they like to live in are dense with a lot of trees. The type of locomotion these animals use is called branchiating which is an extreme form of suspensory locomotion. They also have been seen walking on branches or on the ground on two legs which is called bipedalism, but branchiating is their main form of locomotion. They gracefully swing from tree to tree using this skill. Their specific environment of dense trees is the reason they developed this form of locomotion. Unlike the baboons who walk on all fours because they live in open areas, gibbons swing from tree to tree because they live in dense areas.

 

 

Chimpanzees can inhabit African rain forests, woodlands, and grasslands. They exhibit three forms of locomotion because of their diverse environment. They walk on all fours, which is quadrupedal locomotion. They swing in trees which is suspensory locomotion. As well as being able to walk on two feet which is bipedal locomotion. Their environment enables them to use all of these forms of locomotion because it is diverse.

 

In conclusion, after researching all of these animals I realize that environment plays a key role in what type of locomotion a certain species displays. Animals who live in areas without lots of trees such as baboons use quadrupedal locomotion because they don't need the skill of suspensory locomotion, their environment does not call for it. Animals who live in denser areas such as gibbons lemurs and spider monkeys rely mostly on suspensory locomotion because of their tree filled environment. Animals who live in diverse environments with areas with trees and flat areas such as the chimpanzee rely on multiple forms of locomotion to be able to navigate their environment. So, the environment an animal lives in forces the animal to adapt to a specific form of locomotion. You wouldn't need to swing from tree to tree if you are a baboon who lives on the open planes of the savannah. Also you wouldn't have to spend much time walking on all fours or on two legs if you are a gibbon because your environment makes it necessary to swing from tree to tree. 

Homologous Vs. Analogous

 

The Bones in a human arm are homologous to the bones in the front fins of a whale. The bones in each are basically the same structure, but each serve a very different function.


     A human arm has two larger bones leading down to the wrist and fingers (phalanges). Humans use their arms for countless tasks, from sports and communicating, to eating and working with tools, as well as many other things. A whales arm is similar to a humans in the fact that it has two larger bones leading down to five smaller bones that look similar to human fingers. However, a whale uses its fins for navigating its way through the ocean. With these appendages whales can propel themselves through the water as well as use their fins to turn side to side, or up and down.

     The traits between humans and whales are similar because they share a common ancestor. Both humans and whales are placental mammals, this means that the mothers nourish their babies through the placenta before they are born. Scientists have created an image of what this possible ancient placental mammal might have looked like. You may notice that is possesses a similar arm structure to humans and whales. While this reconstruction is not exactly what this creature may have looked like, scientists know certain traits this creature had to possess to be related to both humans and whales; one of these traits was the structure of the arm bones.

An example of an analogous shared trait is the wings of a butterfly and the wings of a dove. Both of the animals have wings but did not evolve them from a common ancestor.

 

     The wings of both species allow give them the ability to fly. The traits seem so similar because they both do the same job, allowing the creature to fly from place to place eating food and gathering other resources. So even though the wings of both animals are similar it is not due to a common ancestor, it is because of convergent evolution.  

 

 

     Doves and Butterflies both evolved from separate ancestors without wings. I was not able to find a shared common ancestor in my research. However I was able to find out that doves evolved from a reptile without wings, and butterflies evolved from an arthropod without wings. This means that the ancestors of these species did not share this analogous trait.