The University of Michigan Department of Anthropology presents its fall 2024 Roy A. Rappaport Lecture Series, "From Fossils to the Forest."
Recent discoveries of 20-million-year-old fossil apes in eastern Africa have revealed that the first erect apes did not live in forests, but in grassy woodlands. Such habitats were previously thought to have been key to the origins of bipedalism about 7 million years ago, but it is now clear they were present much earlier.
In this four-part series, anthropology professor Laura MacLatchy will consider fossil and modern apes living in forests and savannas to untangle the connections between habitat, locomotion, and diet that influenced the evolution of the ape and human lineages.
The Rappaport lectures will take place on the following fall Fridays from 3 to 4:30 p.m. in the Michigan League's Henderson Room (third floor). The lectures are free and open to the public:
Friday, Sept. 20
Ape and Human Evolution: Miocene and Modern Insights
Friday, Oct. 25
[canceled]
Friday, Nov. 15
From Fossils to the Forest
Friday, Dec. 6
Chimpanzees and the Origins of BipedalismWatching and Rewatching Chimpanzees: Exploring Locomotion on Video
TBD/January
Watching and Rewatching Chimpanzees: Exploring Locomotion on Video
VIRTUAL PARTICIPATION LINK: https://umich.zoom.us/j/91475190155
A reception will follow each lecture. If you need accommodations in order to attend, please email anthro.exec.secretary@umich.edu.
