Anth106 Lit Review - 1309 Words

Literature Review Main Article: The Advantage of Standing Up to fight and the Evolution of Habitual Bipedalism in Hominins Citation: Carrier, D.R. 2011, The Advantage of Standing Up to fight and the Evolution of Habitual Bipedalism in Hominins, PloS ONE, vol. 6, no. 5, May, viewed 5 September 2012, Web of Science Database. The aim of this study was to determine whether assuming a bipedal stance, will provide an advantage for striking with forelimbs. Results were determined through human testing where test subjects assumed a quadrupedal or bipedal postures and to strike a receiver that would measure the amount of force exerted on it. Striking from a bipedal posture proved to give almost a 100 percent increase in the amount of†¦show more content†¦An example of behaviors they adopted are similar to those gorillas exhibit today, the chest thumping to intimidate predators. Most effective weapons are their forearms used to swipe at attackers, this was believed to be similar to that of Australapilithicines. This article supports the views of the author in the main article in that the great apes developed the ability to be bipedal to better defend and fight between each other and predators. Article 4: Intergroup Aggression in Chimpanzees and Humans Citation: Manson, J.H., Wrangham, R.W., Boone, J.L., Chapais, B., Dunbar, R.I.M., Ember, C.R., Irons, W., Marchant, L.F., McGrew, W.C., Nishida, T., Paterson, J.D., Smith, E.A., Stanford, C.B. amp; Worthman, C.M. 1991, Intergroup Aggression in Chimpanzees and Humans, Current Anthropology, vol. 32, no. 4, October, pp. 369-390. The article discusses the act of aggression of chimps against other chimps and how it is similar to that behavior in humans. The article noted that a the tactics used in aggression by chimps were very similar to those used by humans such as cost to aggressors(not attacking if the cost to the attacking group was too great), numerical superiority(attacking in a larger group to ensure success) and traveling in bigger groups to ensure safety. An interesting case brought up in the article was