Biological Anthropology

Applied anthropology is also important, and can be implemented in any of the four fields. One very important contemporary area for applied anthropology is medical anthropology. Some of the geneticsrelated bio-cultural issues described in this course are also studied by medical anthropologists.

Primates! Nonhuman primates are our closest animal relatives. Now we’re starting to get into the fun stuff - monkey business!

This chapter contains information that helps us understand everything else, so it is important. You need to understand the basics of genetics to understand how evolution happens.

The discussion of race in this chapter is a bit confusing. I think what they are trying to say is that biological differences are real. However, I would point out that race is a social construct, especially with all humans sharing such a huge percentage of their biology. There are no set, clear, defined “races.” This will be discussed further when we talk about human variation and adaptation

Primatologists study the behavior of nonhuman primates, observing them in captivity and in the wild. Primatology is a subfield of biological anthropology. Primate behavior illustrates evolutionary principles. Sociality (group life) is the most fundamental primate behavioral adaptation. Living in groups, just like for humans, involves benefits as well as challenges. Studying the social relationships of primates is an essential part of primatological research. In more recent years, primatologists ...

Paleontologists study extinct organisms by looking at their fossilized remains. Fossils are buried in geological strata, layers of sediment. Buried skeletal remains absorb minerals and eventually their inorganic tissues are replaced or petrified in stone. Other fossils may be preserved skin, hair or plant parts, footprints and tracks, or fossilized feces (coprolites).

If you are interested in finding fossils locally, here are some California resources. If you live in another state, you can search for a local paleontological group.

The current terminology for teaching creationism is “intelligent design.” See this checklist for a discussion of ways in which intelligent design and science differ. Both “creationism” and “intelligent design” are faith-based explanations for the world. Evolution is a scientifically based explanation. In this class we can respect one another’s religious beliefs. However, faith is not science. Religious beliefs cannot be explained using the scientific method.

This chapter goes into detail about the chemical structure of DNA. If you have had chemistry, this will make more sense to you than if you have not. For the purposes of understanding evolution and other topics in this course, you only need the basics of the molecular structure of DNA.

The two main taxonomic classifications of primates are strepsirhines and haplorhines. The terms prosimian and anthropoid are the older, less used, taxonomic terms.