Language Assignment Experiment

Part 1:

For the first part of this experiment, I found it extremely difficult not to speak. I use my hands all the time when I talk so that was easy for me. My partner and my 7 years old daughter had a very hard time understanding me. I almost felt like I was playing a game of charades. It was frustrating, because I couldn't explain my thoughts using only my hands, body language and face expressions. My daughter tried to figure it out what I tried to say, and "translate" it, but after couple of minutes she started to give up and she got annoyed with the fact that I could not speak. My partner and especially my daughter are the types who like things verbalized and explained to them and I was unable to speak, so it became frustrating for them too.

Part 2:

For the second half of this experiment, I had a hard time not using my hands. This experiment was harder than I thought. I had to start over two times, because I forget not to use any non-verbal language. Normally I use hand gestures almost every time I speak. Through this experiment I just realized how often I use and rely on symbolic language. I ended up having to sit on top of my hands and not moving. My daughter enjoyed more the conversation with me, because I could speak, but at the end she thought that this "game" was to boring. The most difficult part of this experiment was that I actually had to concentrate on not moving my head or giving attitude with my body language or using my hands. I felt almost trapped not being able to use any type of symbolic language.

I think that the use of "signs" in conversations is very important. They can add meaning to verbal language. The symbolic language or non-speaking language can be very effective in communication because it gets the points more than just verbal speaking.

Some people have difficulty to read body language. I used to have a friend who didn't get my messages through my body expressions and he asked me all the times about the meanings of them. I think if you can understand and speak others language and you are also able to read their body language then you have quite a bit of an edge over others. Being able to read body language helps to know how to take a comment or a conversation and to know what people are actually meaning and not insinuating what someone means.  I think that the type of environment where the body language is not so important is in the conversations when we can not see each other (talking on the phone, being in dark or in different rooms...)

Piltdown Hoax

1. The Piltdown Hoax was found in Piltdown, in the rolling hills of Sussex, a rural county in southeast England in the early 1900’s. A laborer was digging at Barkham Manor, near the village of Piltdown, found a strange peace of skull. He gave it to Charles Dawson, a local amateur archaeologist. When the Piltdown man was first found, the scientific community was ecstatic.  They thought that Dawson had found the missing link between humans and apes.  Dawson and Sir Arthur Smith Woodward were digging for a summer and found an ape-like jawbone with human-like teeth that seemed to link it to the skull. On December 18, 1912, they presented Piltdown Man (“the earliest Englishman”) to the world. Some scientists wondered if this jawbone and skull were really from the same creature, because a crucial piece, the canine tooth, was absent. Dawson and Woodward with an amateur French archaeologist, Teilhard de Chardin found the missing teeth a year later in Piltdown. In 1917 Woodward announced the discovery of a second Piltdown Man.

In 1953 they announced that the Piltdown Man was fake. This discovery was embarrassing for the British scientists. Kenneth Oakley applied a chemical test to authenticate and date the fossils. The mineral department on the behalf of the Natural History Museum tested the nitrogen content. The tests showed that the Piltdown Man was much younger than expected.

There were many suspects of the hoax: Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Dawson, Woodward and Martin Hinton Woodward’s rival at the Museum, but the identity of the Piltdown hoaxer has remained a mystery.   

2. One fault that I believe played a factor in this scenario was rivalry.  I think rivalry played an important factor because Britain and Germany were rivals and wanted to bid up each other wherever and whenever they could.  Britain wanted to prove that they were the first birthplace to the human race.  Dawson was known to be an ambitious man and he may have wanted to be the first Englishman to find the first fossils.  I also think that too many people were involved in this hoax to be recognized and gain titles. 

3. Scientists ended up discovering the hoax when they started to look more closely at the fossils.  They did a fluorine test that measured the fluorine content on the fossils so that scientist could roughly date the age of the fossils.  The remains showed that they were rather young.  They then launched a full-scale analysis on the fossils.  It showed that the remains had been stained and were superficial and the material had been cut when the bones had already been fossilized.  The scientists then looked at the Piltdown mans teeth under a microscope and saw that the teeth had been filed down to look like human teeth.  The jawbone that was with the Piltdown mans skull was that dated back less than 100 years and was a female orangutan jaw.  They also noticed that bones had been removed to make the jawbone look like it belonged. 

Scientist before the hoax had their doubts.  As I stated previously the jawbone was that of an orangutan and the teeth, which belonged to an ape, had been filed down to portray human teeth.  Scientists increasingly regarded Piltdown as difficult to interpret and inconsistent with the path of hominid evolution as demonstrated by fossils found elsewhere.

4. The definition of “human” factors from science is understanding the properties of human capability.  So in my opinion I do not think that it would be possible to take away the “human” factor to reduce the chance of errors.  I say this because in order to try and understand why someone would try and pull of a hoax of this magnitude you need to have an understanding of humans and their behaviors.  Without that I think that it would be hard to figure anything out in this world whether it has to do with science or not.  I personally would not want to take the “human” factor out of science.  Humans play a role in science in almost every situation. 

5. One life lesson that I can take from this historical event and just the world in general is that being greedy does not help you. Dawson or the mystery man wanted to be the first to discover the Englishman fossils that could have been the first link between humans and apes.  However, at the end it was proven that the fossils were fake and too young. If someone tries to mislead people, the truth would come on the surface sooner or later. In this case it took about 40 years to discover the truth.

Primates - Locomotion

Lemurs (Posimians/Strepsirhini)

Environment:  Lemurs rule the treetops of the tropical rainforest. Many species live in Madagascar’s tropical rainforests, but some live in dry deciduous forests.

Locomotion: The locomotion behavior of lemurs depends upon the species. The below table is a quick study of what type of locomotion behavior is and was exhibited by different lemur species.

Lemur Species	Locomotion Behavioral Characteristic
Indris	Vertical clinging and leaping
Bamboo lemurs	Vertical clinging and leaping
Mesopropithecus	Slow arboreal quadrupedal
True lemurs	Fast arboreal quadrupedal
Ruffed lemurs	Fast arboreal quadrupedal
Ring-tailed Lemur	Partially terrestrial quadrupedal
Monkey lemurs	Highly terrestrial quadrupedal
Sloth lemurs	Sloth-like suspensory locomotion

Lemurs are quadrupedal, they use all four limbs for locomotion. The lemurs’ strong hands and fingers help them to climb trees easily. Their muscular legs are adapted for jumping. When they need a change of scenery, they hop to another branch.

How locomotion has been influenced by its environment:

Lemurs adapted to their environment rather well.  Since they are either on the ground or in the trees the locomotion movement of Lemurs has adapted well to their environment.  They are able to move on the ground rather quickly and if need be can leap into the trees and have great balance.

Spider Monkey (New World Monkey/Platyrrhini)

Environment:  Spider monkeys live in tropical rainforests of South and Central America, from Southern Mexico to Brazil.  These new world monkeys live in the upper layers of the rainforest and forage in the high canopies.  Spider monkeys prefer large tracts of moist evergreen forests and they prefer undisturbed primary forests.  Spider monkeys are well adjusted to the life in the tree tops of the rainforest because they are strong and agile and can find food with the resources that they have. 

Locomotion: Spider monkeys use several different types of locomotion: quadrupedal, using all four limbs for locomotion as seen while walking or running; suspensory locomotion used when hanging, climbing or moving through the trees and bipedalism, using only two limbs when leaping. Quadrupedal locomotion is usually observed if the monkey is on a stable relatively substrate free of obstacles. When they are using suspensory locomotion they may be brachiating (swinging with their arms from one branch to another while often maintaining a tail hold).  The most commonly used pattern of body movement while in a feeding pattern is that of quadrupedal, climbing and suspensory locomotion. While traveling they mostly employ quadrupedal walking and running, suspensory locomotion and climbing.

How locomotion has been influenced by its environment:

Spider Monkeys locomotion was influenced by the primate environment greatly.  If this primate was not able to hang from a tree or able to swing from branch to branch and had to walk on the ground they would be more prone to being eaten by a bigger predator.  With the ability to hang from the trees and swing from the branches they are able to stay up in the high trees and keep themselves safe from the predators on the ground. 

Baboon (Old World Monkey/Cercopithecidae)

Environment: The two most common baboons occur in East Africa, the olive baboon and the yellow baboon. The larger and darker olive baboon is found in Uganda, west and central Kenya and northern Tanzania. Baboons generally prefer savanna and other semi-arid habitats, though a few live in tropical forests.  They are active at irregular times throughout the day and night.  In Africa, baboons can raid human dwellings and have been known to prey on sheep and goats.  Baboons are extremely adaptable, the major requirements that baboons need for any habitat that they are in is water, and safe sleeping places.  Baboons like to sleep either in tall trees or on cliff faces.

Locomotion: Baboon can and do climb trees to sleep, eat, or look out for trouble. They spend much of their time on the ground. Baboons locomotor pattern is quadrupedal and on their digits. Walking on their digits means walking on their toes with the heels not touching the ground.  This is known as being a digitigrade quadrupedalism.

How locomotion has been influenced by its environment:

Baboons walk on all fours and their digits which are the tips of their toes and the knuckles of their hands.  This locomotion trait I believe was adapted to help the baboons keep their hands and the soles of their feet from becoming to rough. They do not have prehensile tails. They spend their times mostly on the ground, but they do climb trees for sleeping, eating, and avoiding predators. 

Gibbons (Lesser ape/Hylobatidae)

Environment: Gibbons live in subtropical rainforests from northeast India to Indonesia and north to southern China, including the islands of Sumatra, Borneo, and Java.  Gibbons spend less than 1% on the ground, which helps to keep them safer.  Gibbons move from tree to tree by swinging their arms between branches.  Gibbons are arboreal animals, which mean that they spend the majority of their lives in the trees.  Living in the trees has its advantages for the gibbon as the gibbon has plenty of food and is also a safe distance above ground from predators.

Locomotion: Gibbons main locomotor pattern is brachiating.  When gibbons brachiate, they use four fingers of their hands like a hook; they do not use their thumbs.  Gibbons are known for being very acrobatic and agile.  Gibbons lives are spent mainly in the trees.  It is very rare for a gibbon to be on the ground but when they are they walk bipedally (on two legs).  Gibbons do not know how to swim, so they avoid water.  Gibbons are also able to walk along small branches high up in the air and stretch their arms out to help them keep their balance. 

How locomotion has been influenced by its environment:

Gibbons’ locomotion concentrates on the use of the arms for propulsion through the trees. The most extreme expression of this skeletal adaptation in living primates is seen in the modern gibbon family. Their forelimbs are relatively elongated, they hold their trunk erect, and for the short periods that they spend on the ground they walk only on their hind limbs. Living in the trees has its advantage of safe distance from predators.

Chimpanzee (Great ape/Hominidae)

Environment: The different subspecies of chimpanzees live in different parts of western and central Africa in 21 different countries, from the Atlantic coast to well inland. Chimpanzee’s habitats vary, but include dry savannas, evergreen rainforests, swamp forests, dry woodland and grasslands.  To be able to live in all different types of habitats chimpanzees have to be very adaptable.  Chimpanzees live in large communities ranging anywhere from 10-100.  Chimpanzees usually sleep in the trees as well, employing nest of leaves.

Locomotion: Chimpanzees usually walk using all fours (on the soles of feet and the knuckles of their hands). They can walk upright (when they need to use their arms to carry something), but usually don't. Chimps are also very good at climbing trees, where they spend much of their time, including when they sleep. They can swing from branch to branch in the trees.

How locomotion has been influenced by its environment:

Chimpanzee: locomotion trait has been adapted to the environment.  Chimpanzees are primates that can adapt to their environment really quickly.  The ways they move adjust to where they are living.  Chimpanzees are able to walk on all fours or if they need to carry food or something else they are able to walk on two of their limbs.  Chimpanzees are also able to climb trees and suspend themselves from branches.  The chimpanzee’s locomotion trait works to their advantage since they are able to adapt easily to any environment that they are in.  Chimpanzees are one of the few animal species that employ tools. They shape and use sticks to retrieve insects from their nests or dig grubs out of logs. They also use stones to smash open tasty nuts and employ leaves as sponges to soak up drinking water.

Lemur:

Spider monkey:

Baboon:

Gibbon:

Chimpanzee:

4. Summarize

The level of influence the environment has on the expression of physical and behavioral traits is a huge impact. The primates adapted to the environment that they live. 

Primates occupy two major vegetational zones: tropical forest and woodland-grassland vegetational complexes. Each of these zones has produced in its resident primates the appropriate adaptations, but there is perhaps more diversity of bodily form among forest-living species than among inhabitants.

Even though most primates are quadrupedal to some degree, many primates employ more than one form of locomotion.  Vertical clinging and leaping is a form of locomotion seen in many prosimians. Brachiation is a form of suspensory locomotion in which the body is alternately supported under either forelimb. Some monkeys are termed semibrachiators, since they use a combination of leaping along with arm swinging.

Within the forest there are a number of ways of moving about. An animal can live on the forest floor or in the canopy, for instance, and within the canopy it can move in different ways. In the woodland savanna, which substantially demands adaptations for ground-living locomotion rather than those for tree-living, the possibilities are limited.