According to the article and answer the question - Assignment Example

Anth 101 Physical Anthropology According to the article, how do scientists define culture? As per the article, scientists define culture as the commonality of behaviors “from bedtime rituals to eating habits to sexual practices” adopted by a group that reflects “patterns of behavior, learned from being around others in a group”.2. Do you agree with this definition? Why or why not?I agree with the definition as culture is a set of accepted norms, values and behaviors by a group. Like a country, a city, an organization or any group, the Orangutans are bound in a group for their common and mutual acceptance on the behavioral patterns.

Culture, as defined by Bower, is ‘the way we do things around here’; hence the definition provided is correct in proposing that culture is created by learning behaviors from others in a group.3. Describe four behaviors researchers have observed in wild orangutans.The four behaviors researchers observed in wild orangutans include;1. Giving a Bronx cheer before going to sleep2. A characteristic way of hunting and killing the slow loris3. A specific way of extracting seeds from the stinging fruit of the Neesia tree4.

Dainty use of a napkin to wipe their faces using leaves as napkins and parents teach the skill to their young4. What conclusions were reached regarding these behaviors?The behaviors suggest that orangutans are intelligent species with different personality and mentality compared to chimpanzees and gorillas. Orangutans of different groups are found to have different behaviors and practices than each other. The existence of culture in animal species, as a result, is evident keeping the findings of the article in view.

The way of hunting, extracting insects with sticks, making pillow of twigs or wiping faces with leaves as with a napkin are different behaviors found in different groups. The conclusion, as a result, is the confirmation of culture’s existence among Orangutans. 5. Why do you think these behaviors are significant?The close association of such behaviors is found in human cultures. The different behaviors are important to understand the personality of red-haired apes from others. Furthermore, the way orangutans teach their behaviors to their young ones show the level of responsibility they take to nurture their breed and to extend their cultural norms ahead.

These behaviors are significant to show the existence of culture in animals, and specifically in orangutans.The Scientific Method and the Extinction of the DinosaursPart of Physical Anthropology is its reliance upon the scientific method. The scientific method involves:1. Empirical data collection2. Hypothesis testing3. Experiment4. ConclusionReading the Dinosaur article what are the three “hypotheses” offered for the extinction of the dinosaurs? Please give some detail.1.Sex: The testes of dinosaurs stopped functioning due to an extreme rise in the temperature resulting in the extinction of dinosaurs.2.Drugs: Angiosperms plants are known to have a bitter taste and contain high amounts of psychoactive agents.

Since Dinosaurs could not identify the bitterness and detoxify the substances with their less effective levers, they died after having a lot of angiosperms. 3.Disasters: The comet stroke Earth which resulted in high volumes of dust blocking sunlight leading to extremely lower temperatures that caused the extinction of dinosaurs.What is wrong with each hypothesis?1. Sex: The claim is proposed as a negation to high temperatures being the reason for killing the gigantic animals, dinosaurs. However, to support the theory that rising temperatures remained the cause of their extinction, Cowles proposed the idea of testes being non-functional in such high temperature leading to natural contraception and, at extreme, the extinction of dinosaurs.

The hypothesis, hence, is a mere idea which is not supported or backed up with proper evidences or experiments thereof.2. Drugs: The overdose theory is also a proposition without any backing up evidence or experiments done by researchers. Siegel even stays unsure about the extinction being done by over-dosage alone and remains in the safe zone declaring it as ‘one of the factors’ leading to their extinction. Hence these theories are mere ideas or wise guesses and do not have a supporting experiment to justify them.3. Disasters: If the comet was a reason for dinosaur distinction, how humans, elephants and many other animals survived it?

Why were only a few animals including dinosaurs lost their existence? The answers remain either unanswered or unable to satisfy one’s thoughts.