Running head: Assignment

Assignment

Students Name

University Affiliation
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Name
Date
Introduction to Human Evolution

Evolution

This paper is majored on reviewing various aspects that exist in evolution, whereby it is

sub sectioned into three parts. As a result it will show how evolution is differentiated from

natural selection, in the second part it will explain why there is infanticide among the males

and lastly it will explain the differences that exists between modern man and Neanderthals.

According to the article of infant killing in primaries it expresses the Darwins theory of

natural selection (Bartlett, 1993).Whereby it is critically analyzed through the male killing the

fellow males to avoid the competition that is created as a result of mating. I selected this topic

since the theory has a crucial role in unifying the theory of life. The aspects of natural selection

are well explained through the diverse subjects of the niche biology, heredity ecology and allied

disciplines of psychology. As a result, natural selection is not evolution as many understand, as

such natural selection acts as a mechanism through which the evolution occurs. Focusing on the

aspect of evolution it is defined as the alteration in gene recurrence of a group which occurs over

generations. According to Darwin, he stated that evolution is the act of Mendelian inheritance

(Bartlett, 1993). Whereby Darwin saw that evolution resulted in the change within a population

where smallest group evolve through the propagation of some inherited gene throughout

successful reproduction that results in the changes over time (Bartlett, 1993). Thus evolution

does not occur in individuals, which is inverse to natural selection. Whereby natural selection

occurs through differential progress in reproduction where specific heritable genes give an
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individual some added advantage over others when leaving fertile offspring. When the frequency

of essential traits are increased in the offspring, then they will be transferred to the next

generation then resulting to evolution. Therefore natural selection occurs through differential

procreative success and not a differential fatality, which pushes the aspect of evolution forward

(Bartlett, 1993).From the article we see that the leaders that were termed as mug were the one

killing the male infants that were sensed to bring competition among the kingdom.

The primary strategy of any primate is to survive and reproduce in that according to the

article male-male competition the male were found killing their infants as well as those who did

not belong to their sexual hypothesis; this is well expressed in infanticide that occur within any

of these systems (Sommer, 1998). When there exists a limited access to females in any

generation there results in competition among males (Sommer, 1998). According to Hrdy

statistics, the infanticides creates a breeding opportunity. Due to this restricted access to fertile

females produces a consequence of variety of many different things that include intersexual

competition. This occurs when members of the same species and the same sex compete to mate

with the opposite sex.This directly supported infanticide being a male reproductive strategy and

suggests that infanticide is not random. For instance, when there is a limited number of females

because the alpha has first access to reproduction with these females it may be more crucial to

kill the infant as opposed to waiting for her to nurse an infant and before she is ready and able to

reproduce again. Secondly the male use infanticide and not so much a pathological behavior or a

product of stress in order to avoid the offspring the bring competition to the society. The

unhealthy behavior comes as a result of the physical or through mental diseases which will lead

to committing infanticides. The male further use this strategy for basing their role of dormancy

or alpha male in a multi-male mating system are all social behaviors (Sommer, 1998).
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Some differences separate the Neanderthal beings from the modern humans, according to

the bones that the Neanderthal possess, are extensive than modern human bones that had asserted

ridges over their eye cavities as well as other projections of the skull not seen in modern people.

The Neanderthal were more massive with flatter, wider noses as compared to modern humans.

Comparison to their brain size they had a larger brain size though they were not smarter than

modern man.According to more researches that have been conducted they suggest that modern

humans have the capability to adapt culturally than of Neanderthals. Further, the growth patterns

in Neanderthal teeth matured faster than in modern humans (TATTERSALL, 2005).

References

Bartlett, T., Sussman, R., & Cheverud, J. (1993). Infant Killing in Primates: A Review of
Observed Cases with Specific Reference to the Sexual Selection Hypothesis. American
Anthropologist, 95(4), 958-990. http://dx.doi.org/10.1525/aa.1993.95.4.02a00090

Sommer, V. (1988). Male competition and coalitions in langurs (Presbytis entellus) at Jodhpur,
Rajasthan, India. Human Evolution, 3(4), 261-278. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/bf02435857

TATTERSALL, I. (2005). Neanderthals and Modern Humans: An Ecological and Evolutionary

Perspective. PALAIOS, 20(2), 207-207. http://dx.doi.org/10.2110/palo.2004.p04-42