Into the Junglesave.doc

Daniel Sawares PAGE 1 DATE \@ "M/d/yyyy" 10/18/2009 Into the Jungle Unit Two Chapter Four Question One: What influence did Thomas Huxley have on Eugene Dubois? It started in high school, ?Dubois? science master introduced him to the great works by Darwin, Thomas Huxley and Ernst Haeckel that developed and promoted these ideas?. Later on Dubois became much focused on what Huxley described in evidence as to man?s place in Nature. Huxley?s book was the first detailed biological examination of humans in the light of emerging comparative studies of apes and of the first fossil humans. He was interested in what Darwin had studied by Huxley picked up after Darwin and confronted the central issues head-on. This influenced Dubois thought process and got him to start thinking about finding a ?missing link? and maybe explain where humans would fit in nature. Question Two: Why did Dubois choose to search in the Dutch East Indies for the missing link and not in Africa? A few factors came in to this decision. First the crossed of Europe, where the Neanderthals had been found, because in theory humans lost their fur covering so the must have originated in the Tropics and not colder areas; That Excluded North America, but left Africa, Asia, part of Australia, and South America as possibilities. Then they thought that apes were found only in tropical parts of the old world, it followed that human ancestors originated in those same regions, leaving Africa or Asia. Last factor was all human fossils that had been found to date were found in caves, and Sumatra was littered with caves, making the Dutch East Indies the final decision. Question Three: What evidence did Dubois assemble to support his claim that Pithecanthropus was an intermediate between apes and modern humans? Dubois had a lot of evidence that the Pithecanthropus (erect ape-man) he found was an intermediate between apes and modern humans. One main thing he noticed was the fact the skull that he found November 24, 1890 that he just assumed it to be form a chimpanzee because it had a brow-ridge like that of a chimpanzee. However, the one detail that he could not get over was the fact the skull seemed to have encased a larger brain than that of a chimp. Another piece of evidence he found was a thigh bone that let them know that the animal was well over five feet tall, was in no way equipped to climb trees. It became to look very human-like. Going back to skull Dubois realized he had made a mistake but one that was towards his favor. After reviewing the measurements the volume of the skullcap was much larger than a chimpanzee but also much smaller then a human, making it and intermediate step between both of them. An argument that Dubois used was if it belonged to an ape it would have had to be a five-hundred-pound ape. If the pithecanthropus was more human like, it would be roughly 160lbs. Chapter Five Question Two: Why were experts in different disciplines vital to the expedition and its success? Roy and Osborn were very smart in knowing how important it was to have the best experts in many fields on the expedition; they brought experts in geology, paleontology, mammalogy, and so forth. The experts Roy recruited included: Walter Granger, paleontologist; Charles Berkey, geologist; Clifford Pope, herpetologist; Bayard Colgate, motor transport; Frederick Morris, also a geologist and J.B Shackelford, photographer. Not only they were all exceedingly well in their own field the fact they were all in different fields it allowed their strengths to complement on another. Having experts in different disciplines allowed them to run much more efficiently, a normal day included ?The chief of motor transport refilled the gas tanks and inspected each car. The geologist transcribed their notes from the day?s work. The photographer reloaded his film magazines and made a diary of the day?s photographs. The taxidermists set traps for mammals. Lastly the paleontologist would make a quick search for fossils.? Question Three: What was the significance of the discovery of dinosaur eggs? Even though Roy even admitted that dinosaur eggs was the last thing they would expect to find in the expedition they were very happy to find it. Twenty-five eggs in all were found that year and many more in subsequent years were found. The biggest significance of the discovery was that no one as ever found dinosaur eggs before, because of this they were officially able to prove that dinosaurs did lay eggs. Another very big significance was that they were able to find a tiny skull to ?an unidentifiable reptile? in the same cretaceous layer as the dinosaur eggs. Later on they found out that it was a mammal not a reptile, proving that mammals lived alongside dinosaurs. Question four: Why did the American Museum of Natural History scientists consider the mammal fossil so important? Roy took his findings to New York and presented them to Dr. Matthew. Subsequent analysis revealed that the specimens included two families of insectivores, meaning that they were some of the first ?missing links? in the story of mammal evolution. In addition, because of that, the fossils revealed that before the ?age of Dinosaurs? mammals had already split into the two main lines of marsupial and placental forms. The mammal fossils and dinosaurs are still the subject of intense study today, even though they never did find any ancient human remains.