Anthro 1 Poem/Song Hall of Fame, Spring 2012
David Pacheco
Culture
Culture can be learned
It also can be patterned
Or imitated
Culture is diffused
It transcends one’s subsistence
And always persists
Much like the macaques
Started with one done by all
They rinse potatoes
This was natural
It all began in Japan
A single macaque
Others wiped them off
She dipped it in the ocean
For a tasty treat
______
Kristal Juan
Apes
Long arms and no tail
Haplorhine and Catarrhine
With short and broad trunks
Hylobatidae
Gibbons, the small-bodied ape
True brachiation
The genus Pongo
Great ape of Southeast Asia
An orangutan
Genus Gorilla
A great ape of Africa
Mountain and Lowland
Samy Abbas
Needed To Live On
(Lean On Me, by Bill Withers)
Tonight, I just got news
That I don’t have the
Traits to live on.
Looks like I have
A really bad case
Of natural selection.
I hope you
Don’t have the trait
That’s killing me off;
Only the fit survive.
Like small beaks in finches --
It killed them too.
The nuts were hard to break.
My trait’s dying off.
This means my kids
Can’t have my bad trait.
Now this means that the
Next wave of kids
Must have the chosen trait.
You’re just flying about the sky
When you get the news:
A special trait is needed to live on.
You don’t get to change the traits
That you were born with;
A special trait is needed to live on.
If you have the trait
Needed to live
Your offspring will too.
I got the bad trait
And as for my fate,
I’ll meet the dodo.
Anthro 1 Poem/Song Hall of Fame, Spring 2012
Axel Ayala
Natural Selection Poem
On the subject of evolution, there’s the common misconception:
That only the fittest survive is the main perception.
They say progress defines natural selection,
But this statement needs much correction.
Evolution isn't about progress or improvement.
It doesn't have a specified rhythm or movement.
It’s about variation in population genetics,
And which individuals survive in an environment that is frenetic.
Evolution can sometimes lead organism survival in a certain direction.
Sometimes this is nature's correction,
When organisms must possess traits
At one extreme or the other, since this determines their fates.
Peter and Rosemary Grant studied finch
Species at Daphne Major when a severe drought caused a pinch
On the seed supply so that only hard seeds remained.
Big-beaked birds survived, while the lives of smaller beaked birds were claimed.
Other times, evolution favors traits that are moderate in nature.
In this case, organisms with average features seem to last in nature.
For example, a baby with a normal body weight,
compared to one with a high or low weight, will have a more certain fate.
Adam NakaokaLemur’s Paradise
Modeled on “Gangsta’s Paradise” by Coolio
(“Pastime Paradise”by Stevie Wonder)
As I walk through the forest in the shadow of trees,
I take a look at my life, and realize that it’s a breeze.
Ever since we floated here to Madagascar,
I realize that Africa is actually pretty far.
We came here as one species with only one quest,
And adaptive radiation made sure that we are the best.
With aye-ayes and ringtails, we are Strepsirhines,
Our noses are wet, unlike those weird Haplorines.
Our brains are kinda small and that’s just a shame,
But we have a dental comb so we look good for the game.
We have a postorbital bar and Eutherian placenta,
So look out plants, we are coming to get ‘cha!
Been spending most our lives living in a lemur’s paradise.
Been spending most our lives living in a lemur’s paradise. / Lauren Murillo
Gibbons- Haiku
Who are the Gibbons?
Fam’ly Hylobatidae
The small- bodied ape
They have longer arms
Masters of brachiation
Swing at extreme speeds
2.1.2.3 teeth
Very loud vocal displays
Heard from miles away
William C. Headon
I’m a Chimpanzee (to the tune of “Look at Me, I’m Sandra Dee” from “Grease”)
Look at me, I’m a chimpanzee.
My proper name is Pan troglodyte.
I knuckle walk on the ground but I sleep in a tree.
Yes, that is me, a chimpanzee.
Look at me, I’m a chimpanzee.
I’m only one pair of chromosomes away from thee.
My hemoglobin is almost exactly like yours it be.
Yes, that is me, a chimpanzee.
Look at me, I’m a chimpanzee.
Some say I live in a troupe, but, in the book it’s a community.
However in reality, I live in a fission-fusion society.
Yes, that is me, a chimpanzee.
Look at me, I’m a chimpanzee.
If I’m the dominant male, I will make the girls into mommies.
For I always procreate with the best mommies you see.
Yes, that is me, a male dominant chimpanzee.
Look at me, I’ a chimpanzee.
I can make different tools you see.
A hammer stone, or a termite stick from a branch of a tree.
Yes, that is me, a chimpanzee.
Look at me, I’m a chimpanzee.
I eat fruits, nuts, berries, and the occasional
colobus monkey.
Yes, that is me, a chimpanzee.
Look at me, I’m a chimpanzee.
A mighty organized hunter I’ll be.
We have blockers, chasers and the catcher I’ll be.
Yes, that is me, the male dominant chimpanzee.