Chapter 16, Problem 13STP

Summary Introduction

To explain:

Human evolution and the reason why Homo sapiens is the only surviving member of their family.

Introduction:

Homo sapiens belong to Hominids. These were the most primitive human-like creatures. Hominids diverged from the primates around 2-4 million years ago in the African continent. The common character of Hominids is Bipedalism, i.e., they all can walk upright on two legs. Hominids continue to evolve into several distinct species of Man and evolved several characteristic features including an increase in cranial capacity, toolmaking, learning to generate fire, drawings, etc.

Explanation of Solution

Homo habilis was the first hominids to have evolved around 2.5 million years ago in the African continent. It was the first undisputed member of Genus Homo and its fossil remains still exist. Homo habilis is also known as Handy Man. It got this name as it used the tools made from stone. It has a brain capacity of 650 cc, it also has a smaller brow, reduced jaw size and more human-like teeth. Another species that might have co-existed with Homo habilis are Homo rudolfensis. Later at around 1.8 million years ago, another species, Homo erectus appeared to have evolved from H. ergaster. H. ergaster migrated from the African continent to other regions. It had nostrils facing downwards with a brain capacity of 1000 cc. Homo erectus included Java Man which was discovered in the Java region of Indonesia, and Peking Man was discovered in the China region. It has a brain capacity of around 1100 cc, and they used fire. Homo neanderthalensis evolved from the H. erectus in specified regions of Europe and Asia. They used to live in colonies and formed shelters, they hunted the animals and they used to bury their dead. Some scientist believes that Homo neanderthalensis are our ancestors. However, DNA analysis shows that they were totally distinct species and didn’t contribute to modern-day Man.

There was a continuous evolution of Man since the origin of Homo habilis which then migrated to different regions of the world. It is believed that the more powerful and dominating species of Man replaced the existing one either by competing with them or they themselves died due to the change in atmospheric conditions which they couldn’t withstand and it is believed that Natural Selection played an important role in the selection of dominating and more fit species.

Conclusion

Human evolution is a continuous process that started a long time ago. Fossil records have suggested that the evolution of modern-day man started from Africa and from there it spread to other regions like Eurasia, Europe, America, Australia, etc. There was a continuous increase in the cranial capacity and development of new characteristics features which lead them to compete with the existing one. Therefore, only the dominating species survived and gave rise to existing Homo sapiens.