The Accidental Species: Misunderstandings of Human Evolution (37 page)

Homo ergaster
,
89

Homo floresiensis
,
5–11
,
57
,
73
,
76–80
,
88
,
90
,
109
; as anachronism,
8
; brain,
5–6
,
8–10
; comparison with
Homo erectus
,
10
,
90
; cretinism,
8–9
; criticism of,
6–8
; discovery,
4–5
; distinctiveness as a species,
7
; geological age of,
5
,
9
,
78–79
; “Hobbit,”
6–8
,
10–11
; implications of,
x–xi
,
7
,
11
,
77
; microcephaly,
7–8
; naming of,
6
; as pathological version of
Homo sapiens
,
8
;
Sundanthropus florianus
,
6
; tools,
5–6
,
9
,
88

Homo gautengensis
,
87

Homo georgicus
,
89

Homo habilis
,
11
,
86–87
,
90
,
107
,
133–34
,
139

Homo heidelbergensis
,
88–89
,
130
,
139

Homo neanderthalensis
.
See
Neanderthal Man

Homo rhodesiensis
,
89

Homo rudolfensis
,
86–87

Homo sapiens
,
7
,
76–80
,
88
,
90
,
106
,
127
,
132
,
144
; chin as hallmark of,
5
; evolution in Africa,
5
,
7
,
75
,
90–92
,
139
; evolution of large brain,
138–41
; interbreeding with Neanderthals,
7
,
78
,
91
; presence on Flores,
3
,
5
; technology of,
132
; variation in,
74–75

human evolution.
See under
evolution

human exceptionalism,
xi
,
11
,
73
; applied to
Homo floresiensis
,
7
;

humpback whales,
146
,
150

Independence Day
(movie),
196n1

In Search of Deep Time
(Gee),
xii–xiii
,
101
; creationist misuse of,
xii–xiii
,
101–3

intelligence,
108–9
,
134
,
135
,
137
; artificial,
163
; general features of,
137
,
144
; relationship with brain size,
135–38
,
144–45
; relationship with social behavior,
137
,
144–45
; Spearman’s “general intelligence,”
144

intentionality,
154
,
165

IQ (intelligence quotient),
144

island dwarfism,
4
,
10

Java Man.
See Pithecanthropus

kakapo,
51

Keats, John,
157
;
Ode to a Nightingale
,
158

Keith, Arthur,
184n27

Kimeu, Kamoya,
89

Kipling, Rudyard:
If
,
148

Koobi Fora,
87

kouprey,
79

Kromdraai,
83

LaBelle, Patti: “Lady Marmalade,”
148
,
151

Lamarck, Jean Baptiste de,
34
,
39
:
Philosophie zoologique
,
34

Lamarckism,
35

language,
109
,
133
,
146–56
; as nonverbal communication,
151
,
155
; as social behavior,
150
,
152–53
; as vocal communication,
146–47
,
151
; gossip,
152–53
; learning,
149–50
; meaning,
147–51
,
155
; relationship with grammar,
147

last universal common ancestor (LUCA),
176n26

Lazarus taxa,
70

Leakey, Louis,
86
,
88
,
133
,
139

Leakey, Mary,
86

Leakey, Richard,
87
,
89

Lehrer, Tom,
1–2
,
159

Lewis, Clive Staples,
153

Liang Bua cave,
3–5
,
9
,
78

Lieberman, Daniel,
122

LINEs (long interspersed elements),
49–50

Linnaeus,
33

locomotion, human,
112–13
,
122

London Review of Books
(journal),
xii

Lowell, Percival,
99–100

“Lucy.”
See Australopithecus afarensis

Lyell, Charles:
Principles of Geology
,
30

Madagascar star orchid,
106

Maddox, John,
xi–xii
;
What Remains to Be Discovered
,
xii

major histocompatibility complex (MHC),
166

Malapa,
87

Margulis, Lynn,
43

Martin, Robert D.,
17

Martineau, Harriet,
38

Maynard Smith, John,
43

McGowan, Chris,
xi

Meinig, D. W. (historian),
59

menopause,
142–43

microcephaly,
7–8

Microraptor
,
53–54

Miller, Hugh,
96

mimiviruses,
49

mirror self-recognition,
165

“missing links,”
ix–x
,
7
,
16
,
31
,
46
,
55
,
57
,
73
; allure of,
2
;

mitochondria,
44
,
46
,
91

mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA).
See under
DNA

“mitochondrial Eve,”
91–92

moas,
52

Morgan, Elaine,
114

“multiregional continuity,”
91

Mycobacterium leprae
(leprosy bacillus),
48

Mycobacterium tuberculosis
(tuberculosis bacillus),
48

mycorrhizae,
45–46

Nariokotome,
89

Nash, Ogden:
An Introduction to Dogs
,
160

natural selection,
163–64
; as agency of progression,
13
,
47
; analogy with artificial selection,
21
; Haeckel’s misinterpretation of,
37
; influence of environment on,
24–28
; influence of superabundance on,
26–28
; influence of time on,
27–28
; influence of variation on,
21–28
; mechanism,
32–33
; relationship with disease,
27
; relationship with evolution,
28
,
32–33
,
39
,
47
; simplicity of,
21
,
39
,
47

Nature
(journal),
x–xii
,
1–3
,
5–6
,
82
,
83
,
91
,
95

nature philosophy,
33–34
,
36–37

Neanderthal Man,
7
,
84–85
,
88
,
90
,
130
,
136
,
139
,
143–44
; discovery of,
80–81
; genes in modern humans,
7
,
78
,
91

nematodes,
65–66

New Caledonian crow,
128
,
130
,
136
,
191n14

Ngeneo, Bernard,
87

nuclear DNA.
See under
DNA

nucleus (cellular),
44
,
46
,
91

okapi,
80

Old English,
59–60
,
65

Oldowan (stone tool culture),
86

Olduvai Gorge,
86
,
107

“ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny,”
36

Opabinia
,
66

orang pendek,
80

Oreopithecus
,
123

Origin of Species
.
See under
Darwin, Charles

Orrorin tugenensis
,
94
,
96

Orwell, George:
Animal Farm
,
156

“out-of-Africa” model,
91–93

Oviraptor
,
53

oviraptorosaurs,
53

Palaeospondylus
,
71

Paranthropus
(genus),
141

Paranthropus boisei
,
86
,
133

Paranthropus robustus
,
83
,
86

parasitism,
47–50
,
65–66

Paraves (“near-birds”),
52–53

pattern recognition,
97–98

Peking Man.
See Sinanthropus

penguins,
51

penis: spines of,
55

personality, animal;
164–65

Philip II of Macedon,
148–49

phorusrhacids,
52

pidgin,
147–48

“Piltdown committee,”
82–85
,
87
,
92–93
,
184n24

Piltdown Man,
82
,
84–85
,
92
,
122

Pinker, Steven:
The Language Instinct
,
149

Pithecanthropus
,
81–82
,
84

“planning depth,”
107–8
,
129–30
,
133

plants: association with mycorrhizae,
45–46
; colonization of land by,
45

Pongidae,
175n25

“primate archaeology,”
128

primates,
ix
,
17

progress,
12–13
,
17

proteobacteria,
44

punctuated equilibrium,
39

ratites,
51

retroviruses,
49

reverse transcriptase,
49–50

RNA (ribonucleic acid),
49–50

running.
See
locomotion, human

Sacculina
,
47–48
,
50

Sahelanthropus tchadensis
,
95–96

saola (Vu Quang ox,
Pseudoryx nghetinhensis
),
79–80

sasquatch,
80

satellite viruses,
49

scansoriopterygids,
54

Schiaparelli,
99–100

science: definition of,
xiii

self-nonself recognition,
166

sentience,
109–10
,
157–67

Sepkoski, J. John “Jack,”
68
,
71

sexual selection,
116–19
; and bipedality,
117–18
,
120–21
; maladaptive features of,
121

Shaffer, Peter;
Amadeus
,
153

Shipman, Pat:
The Animal Connection
,
110
;
The Wisdom of Bones
,
131

Shubin, Neil H.,
188n6

sickle-cell anemia,
24–25
,
27
; inheritance of,
25
; relationship with malaria,
25

Signor-Lipps Effect;
181n30

Sinanthropus
,
84

SINEs (short interspersed elements),
50

Sinornithosaurus
,
53

Sinosauropteryx
,
x
,
54

skylarks,
151

Smith-Woodward, Arthur,
85
,
184n27

social facilitation of eating,
191n3

Spearman, Charles,
144

Spencer, Herbert,
38

Stanley, Henry Morton,
80

Sterkfontein,
83
,
87

Stringer, Chris,
77
,
92

stromatolites,
44
,
127–29

Sundanthropus florianus
. See
Homo floresiensis

Swartkrans,
83

symbiosis.
See
endosymbiosis

“tangled bank” metaphor.
See under
Darwin, Charles

Taung,
82
,
83

technology,
107–8
,
124–28
,
132
; antiquity of,
127
,
139
; definition of,
124–27
,
129
.
See also
“planning depth,” toolmaking

teenagers,
159

tetrapods, limb loss in,
55

“theory of mind,”
157–58
,
161

therianthropes,
110–11

theropods,
52

Tiktaalik
,
x

Tolkien, J. R. R.,
6
,
153

toolmaking: antiquity of,
87
,
113
,
139
; in animals,
9
,
107–8
,
113
,
127–29
,
136
; in
Homo floresiensis
,
9
; in
Homo erectus
,
89
; in
Homo habilis
,
86
,
89
,
107
,
139

transformation.
See under
evolution.

tuatara,
8

Turkana, Lake,
87
,
89–90

2001: A Space Odyssey
,
139