Students explore the intersection of topics by taking the following course package:

ERTH 199 FYE Seminar - FIG Seminar, 1-credit

ERTH 203 History of Life - CoreEd or major satisfying course, 4-credits

Topics presented in this course include: evolution of the crust and atmosphere; geologic time; evolutionary mechanisms; principles of stratigraphy; record of earliest organisms; processes of fossilization; appearance of multicellular organisms; paleogeography of continents; mountain building and erosion; Paleozoic stratigraphy and organisms; formation and breakup of Pangaea; Mesozoic and Cenozoic climates, stratigraphy, plants and animals, especially evolution of the dinosaurs, pterosaurs, and mammals; major extinctions and possible causes; the Pleistocene ice age and its causes; evolution of hominids.

ANTH 171 Introduction to Monkeys and Apes - CoreEd or major satisfying course, 4-credits

This course examines our closest relatives, the Primates (prosimians, monkeys and apes) in an evolutionary context. Humans are more closely related to nonhuman primates than they are to any other group of animals. We share in common with them an array of important adaptive features such as high intelligence, complex communication systems, diverse feeding adaptations and diets, and a reliance on social groups. Understanding of the ecology, behavior, and evolution of non-human primates helps anthropologists to identify and interpret those features that unite us with the Primate Order. Throughout this course, we will look at evolutionary features that define and shape the Order Primates. We will also learn the taxonomy and evolutionary history of the primates, and evaluate the ways in which anatomy and ecology shape primate behavior. Lectures will include information from studies of primates in their natural habitats, and discussions will be oriented to both evolutionary and ecological perspectives.