Question

One of your friends is originally from Ecuador. When he was a kid, he would sneak into the forest and watch howler monkeys. On one of these trips, though, he insists that he and his friends found a human skull. What would be a valid distinction indicating why the skull was not actually human?

Answer 1

A valid distinction suggesting that the skull was not actually of a human is that the foramen magnum was not situated at the bottom of the skull. A human skull possesses a large hole, that is, the foramen magnum, into which the spinal cord passes directly at the skull base.

This permits the skull to balance on top of the body that plays an essential role in bipedal walking. The position of the foramen magnum is thus a clear indicator of whether an animal was quadrupedal like a howler monkey or bipedal like a human being.