When Wilma met Fred

When Wilma met Fred

310 million-year-old tree fossils to reveal new ancient animals

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Multiple Choice

Why were they searching for hominin fossils in Tanzania?

• Because course costs were less expensive

• Because it's a dry climate so fossils stay preserved

• Because hominins didn't live outside Africa until 10,000 years ago

• Because East Africa is probably the origin of ancient humans

Multiple Choice

Dr. Heinen was constantly referring to the Pleistocene Epoch in class. What is the Pleistocene?

• the most ancient period in geology

• the age of dinosaurs

• a time when most species now living became extinct

• the geological age just before the present age

Multiple Choice

Paleontologists excavating an area that was once a shallow lake find fossils of two extinct species that were ancestors to modern humans. The more modern species was found in a shallow pit and the older species was found in a deeper pit. Why would scientists look for fossils in areas that were once in shallow water?

• Fossils form better in shallow water because there is more sunlight.

• Nothing in an aquatic environment would eat dead animals.

• Animal remains are often trapped and buried in sediments in shallow bodies of water.

• Animals would have been trapped and buried near the water during catastrophic floods.

Multiple Choice

What species in the genus Homo is most likely to be found by Dr. Heinen's class?

• Homo erectus

• Homo habilus

• Homo neanderthalensis

• Homo sapiens

Multiple Choice

What feature of the remains identifies this early hominid as H. Erectus and excludes all the other species?

• the length of the femur

• the size of the ribcage

• the volume of the cranial vault

• the strong teeth

• all of the above

Multiple Choice

Previous slide:

• positive correlation

• negative correlation

Multiple Choice

Previous slide... is there evidence for the trend levelling off since 400,000 years ago?

• yes

• no