Week 2 Blog Post: Environmental Adaptations
1. I have decided to start off with the ZULUS, The average temperature from January to December. I had a high temperature of 86 between January to April, from May to August it rained from 77 to 72° then from September to December it went from 79 to 81°. I would identify that there are three seasons that occur within their region. There does seem to be some variance to the temperatures in regard to the season. I believe within January you’ll have a reconsideration of summertime and then within the middle of the year it’ll cool off to a cool point as to the end of the year the temperatures slowly rise up and then the cycle repeats itself once again. In regard to rainfall, in January they saw 5 inches of rain between February and April. It went from 4.19 to a maze low of 0.73 inches every single month. We saw a drop of about 1 inch of rain per month. June and July the rain was below 0.24 inches from August and September and rose from 0.4 inches to 0.94 inches from October you saw 2.69 inches going into December we saw 5.37 inches. Focusing on the environmental conditions that would produce physical stress on the human body making it difficult to maintain homeostasis we find that this culture predominantly maintains rule and stays within its traditions of not actually having many items they rely on livestock in order to survive so when these events occur of relatively higher temperatures alongside rain and can inhibit the ability by having the elements put a tremendous amount of stress on the human body when looking to taking buckets of water to the river or having the young boys or men attempt to gather meals or hide within its environment. What benefits them is their skin color that has the ability to Indore greater amounts of sunlight without developing dangerous mutations.
2.Their skin color benefits within the ability of staying outside for a longer time. The majority of images you’ll end up seeing them practicing ceremonial events and cultural events. You’ll generally see them outside considering the fact they live a rule lifestyle without any luxuries attached within their life.
3.The cultural adaptation they have been able to demonstrate is maintaining livestock and crop harvest. Throughout their entire history they are a rule people meaning there is no supermarket for them to go and be able to pick up food they need to maintain water and the food is necessary for nutrients in order to support however many people live within the region and ensure that they do not run out of any food the environmental stress this culture Could occur is changing temperatures less crops growing or animals dying of diseases all of which would put a strain on the ability in order for them to maintain life.
5.The race I would feel would describe them is probably black as even though they reside within South America, and they do make up a good percentage of the population around 12% the majority of other residents within the same continent happen to be African. Therefore, I do not look at any other racial group similar to Asian people or white people as I’m sure they would not identify themselves being in either of those groups.
1. The second culture that I am looking at is the Andean Indians. The climate is normally dry and cold during the dry season not much wind the days can get warm nights are always very cold it normally gets below freezing point with that being said freezing cold during the night love you that would be winter temperature at the early morning spring warm or even hot at noon summer and cool and windy in the late afternoon similar to autumn. With that being said, there are only two seasons: summer every day and winter every night. In January, it is about 16 Celsius that would equal to about 60°F as well. It lowers going into April going about 10 Celsius to 50° F. From May to July it’ll go down to its lowest amount. Five Celsius in May turning into 41°F down to July we’re goes down to two Celsius equal in 35.6°F from that point it will end up rebounding from August to about four Celsius and then going from October to December you’ll have it between 11 to 15°C level of climbing variation stretches from the inner valley up to slopes of the volcano COTACACHI and it is about 2500 m above sea level with a 100 meteor elevation increase. There is coldness with glaciers and snow fields on the mountains depending on the area rainy season concert as early as September and extend as late as April and with all of these factors taken in the place there is a vast majority of them that are spread out between the mountains and some that happen to be within Machu Picchu CUSCO even Chan Chan based on their history. They seem to have developed in agriculture with technology and social systems uniquely adapted to be specialized within the conditions of which they live today.
3. The Cultural adaptation demonstrated is the ability to grow and then eventually harvest and store their food. They had a unique problem and they looked to keep a wave for their people to survive by using the freezing temperatures of the winter in the hot sunshine of the day for the tropical summer they have developed a way to preserve freeze dried meat fish and they have kept it in a point to where it weighs much less than the original food.
4. Ultimately have decided to go with the Apache's both would be practicing the survival aspects as well as that they are both tribal units. They focus heavily on community, and they rely very heavily on the earth, and they have special unique tricks at which they are able to earn over a long period of time from survival.
5. I think the best bet is to look at the physical and the cultural adaptations for both populations, both of them and choose to not really be a part of society, keep within its tradition and they have been able to survive whatever earth has been able to throw at them I think the most useful approach. I think it’s ultimately extremely important just to keep focused on not on their outward appearance but rather what they do within their environment it’s absolutely amazing that these two cultures have been able to survive for as long as they did and I don’t see them going anywhere anytime soon even as we speak both of these tribes could be sleeping cooking hunting they could be working to help one another right now as we speak and we should focus on those things instead of what they look like.
references
Zulu | South African History Online (sahistory.org.za)
Daily Life of the Zulu (southafrica.co.za)
Climate & Weather Averages in Zulu Location Number 19, South Africa (timeanddate.com)
the Andes climate info | what’s the weather like in the Andes, Argentina (whatstheweatherlike.org)
Andean peoples | South American peoples | Britannica
Soil variations along a climatic gradient in an Andean agro-ecosystem - ScienceDirect
Zulu:
ReplyDeleteGood opening description of the environment and identifying the environmental stress of solar radiation impacting this population. Couldn't it also be argued that they also experience heat stress?
Yes, darker skin color is a good adaptation to solar radiation stress, but how does it work? Can you explain the biology behind it?
Certainly, their choices of goods to farm or raise are impacted by their environment, but get back to that environmental stress you chose of solar radiation. What cultural adaptations have they developed from that? Perhaps their shelters (which also help with heat stress)? Keep an eye on the goal of the assignment and don't wander away from it.
"Nguni" is an *ethnicity*, not a *race*. Race is solely defined by external phenotypic traits, such as skin color. If a Zulu man or woman were to be dropped onto the streets of Los Angeles, what race would you assign them, not knowing their ethnicity? How about "black"?
The "summary" is for the very end to discuss both cultures.
Andean:
" With that being said, there are only two seasons: summer every day and winter every night. "
That is a GREAT description! But I'm looking for an explicit identification of the environmental stresses experienced by this culture. Looks like they experience high altitude stress, solar radiation stress and cold stress?
Yes, their bodies must have adapted to high altitude stress, but you just explain the need, not HOW they adapt. Andeans have larger lung capacities to allow for more efficient transfer of oxygen (and carbon dioxide) across the membranes from lungs to blood stream (and back again). They also have a larger quantity of blood cells and hemoglobin to transport more oxygen at one time to the tissues.
I'm a little confused by your "race" section. Are you identifying the Andean population as "Apache"? "Apache" is another culture, not a race. Both Andeans and Apache could be identified as the same race, namely indigenous Indian. It is difficult identifying a specific race, isn't it?
Summary: (This was just meant to be posted once at the end.) In general, good discussion here, but can you expand on the point of "explanatory powers"? If you just use "race" to identify these cultures, does that tell us anything useful about them? Can we use race to explain how and why these populations look as they do and what cultures they practices? Or is it better to use their responses to their environmental factors for this purpose?
Race is not based in biology but is a social construct, based in beliefs and preconceptions, and used only to categorize humans into groups based upon external physical features, much like organizing a box of crayons by color. Race does not *cause* adaptations like environmental stress do, and without that causal relationship, you can't use race to explain adaptations. Race has no explanatory value over human variation.
Hey David,
ReplyDeleteAfter reading your submission, there were some things I learned about these cultures that I didn't come across when I was researching them. The food aspect was interesting because it seems that the Zulu people are more at odds with a changing environment (i.e. a long drought) can lead to food shortages. I wonder kind of adaptation will occur if something like ever happens. And with the Andeans, I didn't know they froze their food in the winter and dried their meats to prolong their edibility. This is a perfect example of using the environment to your benefit and being able survive/thrive even in more harsh condiditions.
Hi David, great work on this post. I really enjoyed reading your explanation on the Andean Indians cultural adaptation and how they harvest and store their own food. I found it interesting that you went with the Apache's for the Andean Indians race because after researching more about who they are I could see why you went for that decision.
ReplyDelete