Question

While you and your little cousin are walking through a natural history museum, she points out the skull of an australopithecine with a large crest on the top and asks you what its purpose was. To simplify a complicated evolutionary trait, you tell your cousin that______________.

Answer 1

Answer:

Its purpose was for attachment of the strong jaw muscles that enabled the animal eat hard foods like nuts.

Explanation:

The australopithecine was a hominid that lived in the eastern part of Africa over four millions years ago.

The sagittal crest on the top of the skull of the australopithecine runs from the front to the back of the skull and is a point to which the strong temparalis muscle is attached. These really strong jaw muscles indicate the animal was capable of eating hard foods like nuts.

Despite having strong jaws, the australopithecine preferred to eat foods like plants, leaves and grasses.