Introduction: Please fill out a scan sheet with a number 2 pencil. Fill out the "name" and "identification number" part of the sheet. You will use only the numbers 1 through 20 on the scan sheet for your answers. Please remember to bring you sheet with you to class on Tuesday the 16th of March, or to deliver it to my mailbox in the biology department mailroom (just down the hall from our classroom) before then if you wish.
This is an open-book test. Any information may be used. Please use the honor system, however, in doing your own work, without discussion with others. Thank you.
My apologies again for my technical difficulties in delivering the exam in class. I know that, while for some of you an open-book approach may seem better, for others who worked hard to be well prepared by classtime an open-book test may seem like a disadvantage.
Like some of the questions in class, you will find that some of these questions require application of principles we discussed in class rather than simply knowing selected facts. You will need to apply information about discussions we had of, e.g., how things preserve and to what degree various sort of geological or paleontological information is speculative or trustworthy.
Have a good break.
Please choose one best answer for each question.
1. Please look at the plot of the evolution of the horse family (a group of related mammals that includes the modern horse) and the plot of the size of various kinds of horses over the Cenozoic Era.
Which of the following is most true?
A) horse size increases through time, the opposite of Cenozoic mammals in general
B) the larger the horse, the better it is adapted
C) horse family evolution is a ladder, the family transforming through evolution of one whole species to the next
D) the spectrum of sizes of species of horses, from small to large, generally increased through the Cenozoic
E) horses are extinct
2. Which of the following would be the most likely place to find the skeleton of a large hornless rhino (an indricothere):
A) the sediments toward the center of a wide continental sea
B) ice from a glaciation
C) volcanic rocks along the edge of a continent
D) rocks uplifted by a mountain-building event
E) sedimentary rocks deposited in a freshwater setting
3. Which of the following would likely offer the most exceptional fossil preservation?:
A) soft sediments from the bottom of a pond
B) soft sediments from the bottom of the ocean
C) ice still preserved from the last glacial maximum
D) rocks well protected from weathering
E) plastic surgery
4. Which of the following is correct about this picture as a symbol of hominid evolution through time (from left to right)?
A) This trend of increasing size in hominids is opposite the general trend of organisms becoming smaller through time.
B) Weapons become larger through time.
C) The full hominid family tree would include branches off this line of hominids.
D) Early hominids would have surely worn clothes.
E) All of the above.
5. The picture below shows a reconstruction of an early close cousin of whales (Ambulocetus).
Which of the following is most true?:
A) This reconstruction cannot be correct, because any cousin of a whale could not have had legs.
B) This reconstruction demonstrates typical behaviors of Ambulocetus, which we know in detail through the extensive fossil record of early whales.
C) In the past 20 years, several major discoveries have been made of whale ancestors and relatives with characters intermediate between land animals and whales.
D) In spite of much effort, no fossils have been found in the past century that shed light on the early evolutionary history of whales.
E) A to D are all a bunch of bologne.
6. This is a hominid skull found at Lomekwi, West Turkana, Kenya, in 1985 by Alan Walker; it is about two and a half million years old.
It is 
typical of several species of hominids that have broad cheek bones and a ridge running down the center of the skull. This skull also has very strong molars.
What have hominid specialists concluded about this form of hominid?
A) These hominids must have been strong predators capable of taking down large prey.
B) These hominids must have been herbivores specializing in a tough fibrous diet requiring strong chewing muscles.
C) These hominids must have been more intelligent than modern peoples, with large attachments for the brain.
D) These hominids probably lived fully in the trees.
E) These hominids are the direct ancestor to modern humans.
7. The picture below shows the number of genera of mammals through time.
The evolutionary process of increasing the biodiversity (number of species, or in this case the number genera) of mammals occurs through
A) speciation
B) an entire species evolving gradually into another species
C) fossilization
D) extinction
E) all of the above
8. What is true about the general pattern of global Cenozoic Era climate change?
A) In general it warms, finally ending in global warming
B) In general it cools, finally ending in glacial oscillations
C) It is remarkably constant.
D) It is marked by intervals of global desertification
E) It is marked, in general, by lack of polar ice caps.
9. What ideas have been suggested for the extinction of many of the world’s largest mammal species in the past 50,000 years?
A) Disease is to blame
B) Climate change caused stress on the populations
C) Humans overhunted them
D) all of the above
E) none of the above
10. Based on your outstanding work in your History of Life class, the government comes to you to ask for your help distinguishing neanderthals (Homo neaderthalensis) from modern humans. The government is concerned that neanderthals disappeared because they were all abducted by extraterrestrial aliens and will be returned by the thousands to the streets of major American urban centers at a time in the near future, at which time they may take over the world. The government wants a way to determine who is a neanderthal and who is not. Which of the following can you tell your government employer?
A) There is no way to know anything about genetic differences between fossil neanderthals and modern peoples, so we would not be able to apply genetics.
B) All researchers are confident, however, that neanderthal skull shape can be consistently distinguished from that of Homo sapiens.
C) A & B are both true.
D) Neither A nor B are true.
E) The neanderthals were actually aliens themselves.
11. Imagine comparing the Hyde Park mastodon site in eastern NY outside of Poughkeepsie and the site of a skeleton of the whale Basilosaurus from Egypt. Even if you knew nothing about these particular sites, which of these would probably be true based on general principles:
A) The whale skeleton probably involved deposition in water, while the mastodon skeleton did not.
B) Since the whale skeleton is found further from an urban center, it is probably much better preserved.
C) Since the Basilosaurus skeleton was found on land, in fact in the desert, this is probably the skeleton of a whale ancestor that lived on land.
D) All of the above.
E) None of the above.
12. One of the primary reasons that the Basilosaurus skeleton was so interesting as a primitive whale is that it preserves:
A) small back legs
B) very large claws
C) gills
D) large molars
E) very complex behavioral traits
13. Imagine that you are doing a study on the predatory habits of the giant cave bear, which is now extinct. Their skeletons, and caves they lived in, can be found in abundance in some places in Europe. It is claimed that these bears brought down the giant adult Irish Elk, but others claim these Elk would have been too large. What evidence would you look for to determine who is correct?:
A) fossil vertebrate remains in cave bear caves
B) cave bear tooth marks on fossil elk bones
C) observation of typical predatory behavior of modern bears
D) all of the above
E) A and B, but not C
14. Some scientists have been interested in the possibility of cloning a mammoth from cells in a frozen mammoth, or even cloning mastodons from genetic material found in unusually well-preserved bones. From our discussions in class, what is the status of these projects at the moment?:
A) Japanese and Russian scientists expect to have a mammoth cloned within the next three year
B) Cloning has not and may not be possible because of the fragmentary nature of even well-preserved fossil DNA
C) Cloning fossil animals is definitely possible, but it simply has yet to be done because of the ethical issues
D) Probably geneticists will need to mix fragmentary mammoth DNA with frog DNA in order to do successful cloning
E) Finding well preserved mammoth eggs, which are similar to those of birds and dinosaurs, is a better means to trying to recreate mammoths than cloning
15. What is true of the hominid fossil record?
A) Hominid fossils are rare compared to those of some other vertebrates, but after decades of intensive searching many thousands have been found, ranging from small fragments to skeletons
B) Hominid fossils are rare, and there exists only one partial skull for each supposed species of hominid
C) Hominid skeletal fossils are rare, but cave paintings and well-crafted spear points are common back to about 3 million years ago
D) Hominid fossils are common if you know where to look, in some cases with entire populations of Australopithecus preserved
E) Hominid fossils are quite common, since hominids have been so well adapted to their environments and therefore very populous
16. Which of the following reflects the correct ordering in geological time?
A) first, overlap in time of early species of Homo; second, overlap in time of early species of Australopithecus; third, overlap in time of Homo sapiens & H. neanderthalensis
B) first, overlap in time of early species of Australopithecus; second, overlap in time of early species of Homo; third, overlap in time of Homo sapiens & H. neanderthalensis
C) first, overlap in time of early species of Homo neanderthalensis and Australopithecus; second, overlap in time of species of Australopithecus and Basilosaurus; third, overlap in time of Homo sapiens & mastodons
D) first, overlap in time of early species of mastodons; second, overlap in time of species of hominids; third, overlap in time of whales
E) first, overlap in time of early species of large vertebrates; second, overlap in time of species of small vertebrates; third, overlap in time of species of hominids
17. Based on what you know about the fossil and rock record, in what aspect of this picture would you have the most confidence?
A) The shape of the wooden implement being made.
B) The overall shape of the head of Homo erectus.
C) The color and texture of the skin and hair of Homo erectus
D) The shape of the wooden huts behind this individual
E) The uses of tools made by Homo erectus
18. What is the basis for figuring out the environment of the Hyde Park mastodon?
A) pollen, spores, seeds, cones
B) bones of other vertebrates
C) snails, clams
D) all of the above
E) none of these are useful for environmental reconstructions
19. What are a few of the primary skeletal characteristics studied to understand the history of hominids?
A) ribs, vertebrae
B) toe bones, knee joint
C) brain size, teeth
D) A & B
E) B & C
20. If you found a deer rib bone in the forest and wanted it to survive to become a fossil, what would be the most appropriate thing to do (assuming your time and money are unlimited, and that we’re not concerned about it being recovered at some later date):
A) put the bone at the surface of the Sahara desert, where it won’t become as weathered by rain and snow
B) drop the bone into the middle of Lake Ontario, where it will drop into the mud at the bottom
C) bury the bone in several inches of leaves and soil in the forest, to protect it from scavengers
D) put the bone at the top of a rocky mountain peak in the Rockies, where it will not be degraded by other living things
E) put the bone in the middle of Ithaca Commons, where people will keep it for hacky sack