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Home , Gorillini, Homininae

How do we recognise th 6 Extinction a ? • Walking on two legs (bipedal) We have destroyed over 80% of the habitat All non-human great are in the 34 continental biodiversity hotspots on Earth critically endangered. The biggest • Large brain relative to body size Biodiversity (see Part 2 of this series). threat is the loss of their habitat • Language, Symbolism, Happiness due to commercial logging, and the conversion of rainforest into palm oil plantations and biofuel Croplands of the Grazing agriculture. This in turn has led to lands take Earth occupy an an increase in human populations School activity & Extinction area about the up an area in forest areas and has led to an about the Part 7 size of South increase in bush meat trade. Why not set up a weekly Compiled by Dr John Anderson, Hominins America size of Africa debate on Democracy. Prof Francis Thackeray (ESI, Wits, anthropology) We humans, sapiens, have arrived very late in the . We’ve been Commercial Logging – The Why should we see the & Katherine Visser (Jhb Zoo, curator ); cutting down of forest trees to layout by Ditshego Madopi & Anmari Hanekom around on Earth for only some 200,000 years. Our subtribe, the Hominina, have 7 bil world as ours alone? Bring all the cities sell wood and make room for Wouldn’t it be a good been around for some 7 million years; and our subfamily, the including Homo sapiens population Chimps agriculture is making less and less and towns and explosion population plan to give our close the chimps and , for some 10 million years. roads of the Earth decimation space available for great apes to cousins, the chimps & together—how 2 mil live in. The roads being built in gorillas the vote? Why much space will the forests are making it easier for not bring them into the Diversity of Hominins they fill? people to move into the forests Democracy? th 400 mil Extinction Age H. sapiens 230 000 6 (Ma) and exploit them. Climate change beringei Gorilla gorilla 1 troglodytes Pan paniscus 1500 2014 1600 2014 The world would be Today H. neanderthalensis Only 11% of forests in Africa a far happier place if Until pretty recently there 2 we shared it with the were perhaps 3 other H. floresiensis Within the Dem. Rep. of Congo the number are protected. 9 H. erectus other 5 million or more species of Homo sharing 8 H. heidelbergensis of Eastern lowland gorillas in eight national the world with us. 3 parks has declined by 90% over the past 5 species that live out 1 there in ! H. ergaster years, and only 3,000 now remain. 7 6

H. habilis H. rudolfensis 10 5

Eastern Gorilla P. boisei P. robustus Western A. sediba 4 2 15 14 A. garhi 12 (sapiens = wise) 16 11 Reconciliation A. africanus 2.98 Diversity (last 7 Myrs) What else can we do? 3 aethiopicus (amongst many possibilities) 13 Homo, 9 spp Panina A. afarensis , 6 spp (subtribe) Genome 17 Paranthropus, 3 spp Recycle old cell phones and electronic goods A. prometheus 19 Kenyathropus, 1 spp • Our DNA is 98,8% similar to that of the chimps and as this reduces the demand for Coltan. 4 4.00 Kenyathropus , 2 spp 18 platyops . Australopithecus , 1 spp The main area where Coltan is mined, the anamensis , 1 spp

Conservation International (2015); Butler (ed.) (2015) ‘Over-development’; Katoh et al (2016), gorilla-human split Katoh Conservation International (2015); Butler (ed.) (2015) ‘Over-development’; • The DNA of humans, chimps and bonobos is 98,4% Democratic Republic of Congo, is home to (tribe) 20 Total: 7 genera, 23 spp Ardipithecus similar to that of gorillas. the . 5 ramidus • We are all close cousins, though we and the chimps 21 Be consumer aware and make sure that the A possible Homina family Ardipithecus Sahelanthropus are even closer than the chimps are to the gorillas. ºC 6 tree (not the only one), as kadabba 23 tchadensis products you use come from sustainable Cold Hot reconstructed by F. Thackeray 22 Orrorin tugensis farming practices. 10º C swing 7 (2015) to include Homo naledi at about 2 million years 7.65 before the present. Homina 8 (subtribe) Communication (African apes & humans) Species from the (tribe) 9 Homininae (hominins) • The main difference in our DNA is related to speech • Many research projects on the gorillas, chimps and bonobos (subfamily) 10 development and hearing. have been undertaken where individuals have been taught ~10.0 to communicate with humans using sign language and Family: • Humans are the only that can form words; other computer screens with keyboards and lexigram symbols. Subfamily: Homininae apes cannot because the larynx muscle and vocal cords Gorilla gorilla (Western gorilla) The Gorilla-Pan-Human timetree can’t close as much or as fast as they do in humans. • Chimps and gorillas have been known to use up to 200 different hand signals, but can understand human words and G. g. gorilla () The timetree shows we • However, all apes are able to communicate with each (Howler (Howler

G. g. Monkeys, diehli () instructions of up to more than a 1000 words.

Capuchins) are more closely related Marmosets, Marmosets,

Platyrrhini other using a complex repertoire of sounds, facial Lorisiformes () (Gibbons) (Tarsiers) (Lorises, Galagos) (Lorises, Lemuriformes (Lemurs, Aye-aye) (Lemurs, Gorilla beringei () (4 extant genera) Tarsiidae to the chimpanzee than (3 extant genera) (22 extant genera) (Man) Hylobatidae

Cercopithecidae expressions, body language and silent communication.

(Old World World Monkeys) (Old • We can ‘talk’ to each other and plan a happier future!

G. b. beringei (Mountain gorilla) (Bonobo)

Pongo pygmaeus Pongo they are to the gorilla. (Bornean ) Ma (Chimpanzee) Pan paniscus Pan (Eastern Gorilla)(Eastern Gorilla gorilla (Western Gorilla) Homo sapiens (8 extant 1 extinct genera, ) Gorilla beringei

G. b. graueri () troglodytes Pan (15 extant 8 extinct genera, genera) (20 extant 12 extinct genera, genera) 0 • In non-human apes, ‘language’ is limited and they only Pan troglodytes (Common chimpanzee) seem to communicate about the present and their

P. t. troglodytes () 4.2 immediate environment; unlike humans that can refer to P. t. verus () 5 the past and future. P. t. ellioti (Nigeria-Cameroon chimpanzee) P. t. schweinfurthii () Pan paniscus (Bonobo) 10 Homo sapiens (Human) Homininae Human Chimpanzee Gorilla Homo sapiens Pan troglodytes

17.29 Homininae Hominidae University University University University Cranefield Pretoria Witswatersrand Cape Town College

22.32 Stellenbosch Hominoidea 32.12 46.72 Lemuriformes Lorisformes 66.33 With a focus on the family Hominidae (Great Apes) (Great on the family Hominidae a focus With Timetree Primate Strepsirrhini (Suborder) 70.0 Haplorrhini (Suborder)

74.11 Prosimians