2024-07-30 21:36:06
About 300,000 years ago in Africa, Europe and Asia, according to the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History it was at least nine Homo species including H. sapiens.
Neanderthals and Denisovans are called Homo the group co-existed for thousands of years with H. sapiens – and even interbred with each other, as evidenced by the fragments of their DNA that remain in the bodies of many people. But eventually the Denisovans and Neanderthals also died out. About 40,000 years ago, H. sapiens became the last remaining hominin.
So what has been the secret to our success? Why H. sapiens survived – when all our relatives disappeared?
Understanding how we’ve survived as a species requires first figuring out what we have in common with other hominins, says William Harcourt-Smith, a paleoanthropologist at Lehman College and the American Museum of Natural History. First on this list is bipedalism. Walking on two legs appeared at Ardipithecus – the earliest human ancestors who lived approximately 4.4 million years ago. years – and Australopithecus, which appeared in approximately 2 million years later. Both groups were “little more than bipedal apes” with relatively small brains, says Harcourt-Smith.
Bipedal locomotion was an important step in hominin evolution, but it did not stop it Ardipithecus, Australopithecus and the third hominin genera— Paranthropus – extinction. Australopithecus appeared at a time when Ardipithecus disappeared Paranthropus and the first Homo the species originated in Africa about 3 million years ago. year when Australopithecus disappeared.
Unlike those that emerged Homo species that had larger brains and smaller teeth than their predecessors, Paranthropus had small brains and were more ape-like, with massive molars and powerful chewing muscles, the researcher says.
“For quite a long time Homo and Paranthropus occupied perhaps different niches, but similar landscapes, and they both did very well,” explains W Harcourt-Smith. However, after approximately 1 million years Paranthropus became extinct, while “Homo survived and spread, eventually throughout the world.”
Who destroyed Ardipithecus, Australopithecus and Paranthropus? “Nobody knows for sure, and it probably wasn’t just one thing,” says Elizabeth Sawchuk, curator of human evolution at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History (USA). “Possible factors include environmental change, competition for food and resources between modern hominin species, and low population density.”
W. Harcourt-Smith adds that larger Homo brains definitely gave this tribe an advantage over Paranthropus. A larger brain has led to improved cognitive and tool-making abilities, increased behavioral flexibility, sociability, and better problem-solving ability.
“They probably lived in fairly complex family groups. Perhaps they were burying their dead. They built hideouts, made projectile weapons, and knew how to control the use of fire, – says the scientist. – You start to see the emergence of specialization, different tools for different tasks. They worked with the landscape in complex ways.”
Because Homo species may have been more resilient and more adaptable than Paranthropus – but to find out what caused that H. sapiens was more resistant than all the others Homo species is more complicated. Ancient tools, art and other artifacts suggest that our cognitive powers, technical abilities and problem-solving skills were more advanced than those of our close relatives, says W Harcourt-Smith. Flexible social strategies may also have helped H. sapiens survive where other species have disappeared, Sawchuk speculates.
“Our flexibility has served us well,” says Sawchuk. “One of the reasons we’ve been able to spread so effectively is that we’ve learned to adapt to different environments, not just biologically, but also culturally, with our technology and behavior.”
Another factor may just be coincidence, says Harcourt-Smith. Populations of small species can decline rapidly following natural disasters, disease outbreaks, or climate change, leaving previously occupied niches vacant for other species.
“Randomness is part of it,” he says. “You have to be in the right place at the right time.”
Flexible and competitive
Standing man was the first Homo species distributed in Africa and East Asia. Over hundreds of thousands of years, more species appeared: A man from Heidelberg, Homo a star, Homo floresiensis and A man of Luzonalso H. sapiensNeanderthals and Denisovans.
Originating in Africa, H. sapiens migrated to Europe, where the Neanderthals had already established themselves – and to Asia, where they encountered the Denisovans. The DNA of modern humans shows that these groups interacted with each other, and it is possible that H. sapiens outcompeted and outcompeted these groups – and perhaps other Homo species that have yet to be identified.
“Although we don’t know what role we played in their extinction, it seems likely that our spread out of Africa stressed other species through competition for resources,” says Sawchuk. “Our species has been very successful at moving and mating, and that’s probably one of the reasons we’re still here.”
Global climate change is also believed to have contributed to some Homo species extinction, “but it’s hard to say what role it played,” says E. Sawchuk. “For example, our species A wise man evolved in Africa but survived the ice ages in Europe – whereas Neanderthals, who were adapted to cold conditions, did not. Therefore, it can be assumed that there were other factors besides the climate,” she says.
Finally ours Homo the relatives were killed “probably by a combination of several factors and a bit of randomness,” the researcher believes.
It has already happened that H. sapiens was at one point dangerously close to extinction. In a recent study of more than 3,000 people from African and non-African groups, genetic analysis revealed lower genetic diversity than expected. Scientists attribute this to a population “truncation” between 813,000 and 930,000 years ago, when the global Homo the population hovered around 1,300 people for more than 100,000 years.
“It is important to remember that our survival is not guaranteed,” says E. Sawchuk. “Looking back at our flexibility and collaborative skills will serve us well as we face new challenges.”
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2024-07-30 21:36:06