THE IMPORTANCE OF LANGUAGE

      Language is very important because it allows us to communicate easily with one another without having to guess the point that is trying to be given.  Being able to use language allows humans to express their emotions. Language plays a major role in creating a place for oneself in society.  Language is used to communicate in business meeting, social gathering and much more.  When a person is not able to communicate verbally with others it impairs them from building the same kind of relationships others build.  Usually a person that does not have the ability of speech is not given the same value as a person that can.  I have noticed this at my work place.  There is a woman that is not able to hear or speak that always comes into the store.  She is usually ignored the majority of the time because people assume that she is crazy just because she cannot speak.  Society does not really accept people that are disadvantaged.  Language is important because the gestures and the symbols that one may use to communicate in one area may not be proper in another.

     The experiment was not easy. I tried it on a few different people, one of them being the lady that does not have the ability to speak nor hear. This lady is not familiar with any sort of sign language or communication system. She was the only one that was not frustrated in trying to communicate without any language or anything written everyone else seemed angry that they were having a hard time understanding what I was trying to say. They were trying to get me to speak with them or write notes to them and when I refused they got frustrated and did not want to talk to me anymore until I spoke normal once again. 

The culture with the spoken language has a greater advantage to share complex ideas and emotions because it is very complicated to communicate simple ideas with just body language. It would be almost impossible to communicate a complex thought without symbolic language. Language allows people to be able to survive by communicating their desires.  In a fast paced culture like the American culture oral communication is very important when trying to obtain a certain service.  Usually if a person does not speak so that their needs can be heard they are usually not taken into account.  I realized that sometimes using gestures and using body language is not enough.  Body movements and gestures are just to emphasize one’s point when communicating verbally with one another.  While doing this experiment I felt frustrated that no one understood what I needed and that no one wanted to help me out.  It gave me anxiety when I was misunderstood and ignored by people because I believe that human beings feel the need of attention no matter what kind of person they are.  I was not able to contain myself from talking because it frustrated me very much that I could not get my point across to anyone and no one could help me. I believe that the speaking culture would treat the other culture as less worthy human beings and shun them because they would feel frustration because it would be extremely difficult for the cultures to make a connection.

   Now the second part of the assignment was much harder. My peers have always told me that they feel as if i use my face expressions a lot to communicate with everyone. It was really hard for me to keep a still face as i talked to the people I was talking to. I was not able to last the 15 minutes without getting my facial expressions involved in my conversation. I could not do this part of the experiment without laughing. My friends also seemed to think it was very funny to see me expressionless they felt awkward. They said I looked creepy. Using signs and body language allow us to show our emotions and get out point across with greater ease. The use of our body language allows others to recognize and relate to how we feel. I think people that have difficulty understanding body language are people with disorders or people that have mental illness. Being able to read body language is great for being able to protect ourselves from others that may want to cause us harm. In a situation where showing a sign of being scared or fearful may be dangerous is when being able to read body language is not that great.

     In the year 1912 in the Southern English town of Lewis in a little village named Piltdown, Charles Dawson claimed to have found a piece of an ancient human skull. The fossils had a tremendous effect in the scientific community, especially in England because up until that point fossils had been discovered in other countries like France and Germany but not in England. Charles Dawson also found what was the jaw bone of a human that seemed to belong to the piece of skull that he had found before. That piece of jawbone seemed to be that of an ape but it had teeth that seemed to be as if they were human. For years it seemed as though they

had discovered the "missing link" that connected apes and human beings. In the 1920's ancient remains of humans were found in Asia and Africa and they did not coincide with the fossils that were found at Piltdown. The fossils that were found were dated to be more recent than the fossils that Charles Dawson had discovered but they seemed to look less humanly than the fossils that were said to be older that were found at Piltman. The findings in the Piltdown village began to have scientists question the credibility of the fossils. A new technology was being used after world was two which allowed scientist to use fluorine to be able to date fossils. The scientists used the fluorine test to examine the Piltdown fossils. Scientists also looked at the fossils under a microscope and realized that the teeth had been filed down. After the tests were made the fossils were only one hundred years.  The human faults in this scenario are ambition, greed, and jealousy. The men that were involved in the hoax were men that had a great reputation in the scientific field and it would benefit them greatly to make a discovery since their word would not be questioned very much since they were quite respected. The jealousy issue may have been that Dawson saw that in other powerful countries the scientist made discoveries on ancient humans and England had not yet obtained any. These human faults led them to think it was acceptable to falsify the fossils. As i explained above the new inventions of

technology which were the microscope and the use of Fluorine to reveal the age of the fossil allowed scientists to discover the hoax. It may be possible to remove human factor from science by running many tests on one certain topic by different people therefore there would be less mistakes because one thing that may benefit one person may not benefit the other and that removes a bit the ability for a scientist to have total control to an idea. I would like to remove human factor because I do not believe that a person who is making up information should receive credit and prestige for a lie that they created. I have learned to not obtain information from sources that are not able to prove their beliefs because any person is able to lie about something that seems right and make people believe it is true when it is not.

LEMUR-Lemurs live in "dry woodlands of Western Madagascar." The woodlands have a dry climate with a time where the season is dry. Lemurs live in groups that can have up to twenty five in a group.  They are quick to claim their territory and will fight other groups for their area which could be from fifteen to twenty acres.  The lemur is an animal that is very socially active. In these animals' groups females are the ones that have the power. The females stay in the group they were born into and the males leave once they are developed enough to mate. Social standing is seen among the lemur, but when it comes to mating the lower standing males have the same opportunity to mate as those lemurs with higher power. The lemur is very social animal and they live in large groups and being social can be a useful thing to the lemur to help it survive because the Woodlands of Madagascar is a habitat for many animals and they would need to fight together for what they claim to be theirs since they are such a small animal.

SPIDER MONKEY- The spider monkey is an arboreal creature that lives in the Evergreen forests of Central and South America. The Evergreen forest is a very tropical place it receives much rainfall throughout the year and there is never a time where there is "frost" or "drought." Spider monkeys live in groups that are not particularly too big. They will have a few members of the group and some stray away from the group but they do not go far away from their group. This animal specifically does not have an attachment between the parental figures and the offspring. This feature has came about (evolved) due to the feeding patterns that they have. When there is scarcity in food the spider monkey is not likely to live in a big group because the seeds they need to survive are scarce. Females have the power within the groups as well because they are able to find food more effectively than males. Females are sexually developed at four years of age and males at five. The spider monkey breeds all year round. It is likely that the spider monkey breeds all year round because they only produce one offspring at a time and in order to keep the species alive they must produce offspring.

BABOON- The baboon is an animal that adapts almost anywhere. It has inhabited almost every type of environment in Africa and Arabia. Usually they live in the Savannah which is a grassland that does not have much rainfall during the year. It has trees and shrubs that are far from each other. The baboon is also a very social animal but the special thing about this animal is that they form special bonds with one another. Usually the bonds that the females have are in their family, in their group, or they form friendships with other baboons of the other sex which helps them with protection and grooming. In having these relationships with one another baboons groom each other. Male Baboons are less social than females especially with their same gender. They compete for power position because the "alpha" male would be the one to have the first pick in the "ovulating" females. Baboons have different sexual partners they are not monogamous. They usually have a time in which two mates pair together and mate during that time and that is a time where the male does not let any other male try and mate with his female partner. The baboon had difficulty when their original habitat was becoming more and more scarce and that is probably the reason why they have developed to be able to live almost anywhere.

GIBBON- The gibbon lives in South East Asia in the tropical rain forests. Their territory is usually about thirty to fifty acres. The gibbon is a social animal that is family oriented. The gibbon mates with one partner for life and lives with their partner and their children. They use calls in the morning to warn others to stay away from the food and their area. Females usually give birth to only one baby at a time. Since the Gibbon is able to use their calls to warn others to stay away that is what probably helps them survive and stay with their family instead of living with others. 

CHIMPANZEE-The chimpanzee lives in forest areas in Africa in Guinea, Tanzania, and Uganda. They usually live in rain forests and wet savannas. They spend time in trees and on land but the majority of their necessities they take care of in the trees. Chimpanzees also live in large groups that have up to eighty chimpanzees. Chimpanzees also hold hands and kiss when they see each other. The females are very motherly with their babies and they usually help each other. The adult chimpanzees usually have a friend that they spend a lot of time with. The mating habits of the chimpanzee are that they are not monogamous. The females mate with more than one male when they are the most fertile. There is also males,the ones with the most power that do not allow the other males to be with the female.Females also go to other groups and find a male to mate with in other groups as well. The chimpanzees probably adapted to live in large groups to benefit themselves to be able to help each other in daily activities and keep each other company.

Much of the environment has effect on the behavioral traits that the animals have because living incertain conditions the animals need more help than they could provide for themselves to survive.

Homologous & Analogous Traits

a. Briefly describe the two different species that possess the homologus trait. 

The human being and the dolphin possess the homologous trait. The structure of their features comes from common ancestors.

b. Describe the homologus trait of each species, focusing on the differences in structure and 

function of the trait. Why do these homologus traits exhibit differences between the two 

species? Make sure your explanation is clear and complete. 

The homologous trait of each species are the forelimb of the person and the flipper of the dolphin.  In both mammals the fin and the arm are composed of the "five-digit forelimb" they are the same in both humans and dolphins but serve different purposes. The dolphin fin is used only for the dolphin to swim and the human are is used to be grabbing the items they need and using it to reach for items through out the day. 

c. Who was (generally, not specifically) the common ancestor of these two species and how do 

you know that ancestor possessed this homologus trait?

Amphibians were the common ancestor of these two species. I know that the ancestor possessed this homologous trait because the majority of mammals today have the same "five-digit" limb structure.

a. Briefly describe the two different species that possess the analogous trait. 

The parrot and the butterfly both have the analogous trait of having wings.

b. Describe the analogous trait of each species, focusing on the similarities in structure and 

function of the trait. Clearly explain why these analogous traits exhibit similarities between 

the two species. 

The analogous trait of each of these two species is the trait to fly. The structure of the wings is not exactly the same because the parrot has feathers and the butterfly has scales but the wings serve the same purpose which is the purpose of taking flight. The analogous traits exhibit similarities between the two species because they have two different sets of structure of the wings that serve the same purpose which is the need to fly to be able to survive.

c. All pairs of organisms share some common ancestor if you go back far enough in time. Did 

the common ancestor of these two species possess this analogous trait? Why or why not? 

The common ancestor did not possess the analogous trait because going back far enough in time the older ancestor of a bird was a reptile that was not able to fly and did not have wings therefore, if they did share an ancestor the ancestor would have been more than likely lacking the analogous trait.