Bachelor of Arts in Human Evolutionary Biology

The Australian National University

Humans are as much a part of the natural world as plants and animals, and a full understanding of our anatomy, physiology and behaviour thus requires a deep appreciation of evolutionary principles. This major aims to provide that level of understanding by exploring human evolutionary history, a story spanning the last seven million years, and its relevance for humans today. Students in this major will strive to answer questions such as - How have evolutionary forces shaped the origin and maintenance of human adaptations How are humans like other animals What makes humans unique And What evolutionary processes led to this uniqueness.Learning Outcomesexplain the processes of natural selection, adaptation and speciation that underpin the evolution of animals and humansexplain the characteristics of humans, including intelligence, language, culture, morphology and behaviour, and place those in the context of our place in the animal kingdominterpret and discuss hypotheses as to how and why uniquely human adaptations initially evolve andcritically evaluate and propose hypotheses about the future directions of human evolution on the basis of existing evolutionary theory and the selective factors acting on humans.

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