Thomas+Kipp

=//**Human Evolution Essay 5**//= //**By Thomas Kipp**//

toc LOL look what I found! click on //[|Homo heidelbergensis]// and read first sentance (and parenthesis).

Basics Of Evolution
// According to theories of human evolution, many changes in humanity have enabled us to make progress towards society. // Humans did not always exist, but evolved from numerous lesser creatures, all of which are now extinct. The scientists that study what we where have to look to a time long before even the Egyptians or Sumeria ever existed.

Humans evolved from a series of man-ape creatures known as hominids. These hominids included species that are know extinct such as Australopithecus, Homo Habilis, Homo Erectus,Homo Habilis, Homo Sapiens, and Homo Sapien Sapiens. I plan on telling you about these ancestors and how they became us. Note that not all my information on the following pages is not 100% accurate fact, they are theories. A theory is what someone thinks could have happened. By the end of this essay you should understand the theory of evolution, how we think we changed over millions of years to become who we are now. You should have your own thought and opinions -your own theories- of the features and habitats of your great-great-great-great x1,000,000 grandparents!

The Australopithecenes
The Australopithecenes where the first hominids to begin to act like us.They lived from 5-2 million years ago when the forests of Africa where first beginning to die due to changing climate. Australopithecenes were generally from north and eastern Africa, so their habitat was savanna, or grasslands, not desert. The Australopithecenes were a group of early hominids that where the first species to develop bipedalism, the ability to stand on two legs. This allowed them to see over the tall grass where they lived and spot their pray (and more importantly, their predators) from a further distance. Though they had this added security they spent most of their time in trees, where most predators wouldn't be able to reach them. Even though we would never do this, it was safer for them because they had no tools to defend themselves. They where completely absent minded when it came to tools, for they had no idea how to manipulate objects for their own use. This means they couldn't hunt, so they ate mostly fruits. Scientists learned a lot about austalopithecenes through the skeleton of an A. Afarensis called Lucy (named because when she was discovered the song "Lucy" by The Beatles was playing on the radio). Lucy is only half a sceleton. Donald Johanson, the man who found Lucy, only found 47% of her. It may seem that Lucy would be useless for the scientists because there was so little of her, but realy she is the most complete australopithecene fossil that has beeen discovered. Through her bones Johanson and others learned more about her genus than they ever could have without her remains, and most of what I have written above was discovered through Lucy. You hopefully now have a decent knowledge of the Australopithecus genus, the first step towards ourselves. you know about their habitat and time period, their skills and their adaptations. You have developed a understanding of how archeologists gather their information- through fossils, howeaver incomplete, like Lucy. Next up: Homo Habilis!

Homo Habilis
Homo Habilis was the first "Homo" genus to evolve. It lived from 2 and a half to 1 and a half million years ago. Like the Australopithecus, H. Habilis (sometimes when referring to animals you can drop the genus) lived in Ethiopia and Tanzania. At the time Africa was even dryer than it is now, so there weren't any trees for the species to live in like the Australopithecenes. Homo Habilis's name means "Handy Man". Mary and Louis Leakey, the Kenyan archeologists who where first to discover the species, named it that because it was the first hominid to use tools. Simple stone tools were used to protect themselves from predators. This was the most important step to becoming us, for without tools we would be no better than monkeys. H. Habilis was short with disproportionaly long arms compared with ourselves, but their faces were less bulging and ape-like than their predecessors. I can't say much more than that, for from what I gathered there seems to be much confusion regarding Homo Habilis. We all agree that they used tools and when they lived, but not much more than that. The scientists can't decide whether it should be a Homo or if they should move it to the genus Australopithecus, or even if it should be a species at all. Though from what I could say you should now understand where and how it lived, some of it's accomplishments, As well as it's physical features.

Homo Erectus
Homo Erectus was the first Hominid to leave Africa. they migrated to Europe, southeast Asia, and Oceania because their large brains allowed them to easily adapt to a wide variety of enviornments. Their fossils have been found in forests, planes, and grasslands. All pages I've read agree that they lived between 1 and a half million to 250,000 (two hundred and fifty thousand) years ago. H. Erectus was one of the smartest human-like species before we came along. They could use many tools, discovered and used the basics of fire, and even made clothing (they were the first to do so). As far as adaptations, they had large brains (though they were 25% smaller than our own) and long legs with strong joints that allowed them to hike and trek easier than most other species (including modern humans). Homo Erectus were smart enough to invent more tools than any other creature at the time. They could adapt to most any environment. H. Erectus was named after it's ability to stand with their backs completely strait (a feat that had never before been accomplished and some modern humans still seem to have trouble with), thus the word 'erectus', or erect, meaning strait and tall. Homo Erectus was one of the most interesting early humans I'd researched, and hopefully I portrayed that feeling over to you with this section. I covered H. Erectus' physical features as well as their mental abilities, Their habitat and their era.

Home Sapiens (Neanderthalensis)
Homo Sapien Neanderthalensis (Neanderthals for short) are a species of modern humans that lived in europe and west middle east durring the last ice age (I say last because I doubt another one will happen with all this global warming going on). This specie's name, Neanderthal, is actualy two words, Neander and thal. Neander Valley is the location where this species was first discovered,and thal used to be the German word for valey. Put it togeather and you have Neanderthal. Because It was so cold win this location 600,000 to 350,000 years ago, they had large noses to warm their breath before it entered their mouths. They where carniverous, which means that they ate only meat. To hunt they used advanced tools and used fire to cook it. They also had a language, though scientists have not discovered how advanced or effective it was on their lives. When humans arrived in Eorope the two species began to compete, and often fought over land, food, and shelter. Our ancient selves had better tools than the neanderthals, so eventualy they drove the Neanderthals out of most of Europe and into Spain. Here they eventualy died out and that was the end of them, but a quote below is another theory that sugests that they are not entirerly gone. By now you should know about a species that used to coexist with us. They where almost our equals, but because of that almost they are now extinct. They used tools, fire, and clothed themselves. They were among the first hominids to eat meat, not just plants.

Quote from Wikipedia's page on Neanderthals ([])
Quote "Current (as of 2010) genetic evidence suggests interbreeding took place with Homo sapiens sapiens (anatomically modern humans) and Homo Neanderthalensis between roughly 80,000 and 50,000 years ago in the Middle East, resulting in 1–4% of the genome of people from Eurasia having been contributed by Neanderthals." Unquote. Freaky, right? I know this is a tad off topic but I saw a TV show once and they said (though Im not shure about the truth behind it) that humans were never artistic or creative until about 60,000 years ago (notice the conection with the date above) when DNA from Neanderthals got mixed with DNA from humans, and we inherited their artistic skill.

Homo Sapien Sapiens
Modern humans are referred to scientifically as Homo Sapien Sapiens, or sometimes "moderns". Their name means "wise man", referring to our skill of manipulate our environment (or, more accurately, all the environments on the planet). We, Homo Sapien Sapiens, have highly developed brains that allow us to reason, speak, and solve problems. These traits, along with rationality and self awareness are our defining features that set us apart from other species and past hominids. All of this combined with the fact that walking erect frees our hands for other uses has allowed us to invent and invent and invent until we had surpassed even the great Homo Erectus as the best tool users on the planet (and the only, or at least, the last). We are more social and coexisting (except for all the wars- you dont see monkeys fireing bazookas at each other) than other species before us, and we are widespread throughout the continents (world domination) with a population of billions, making us the largest non-insect race on the planet. Hopefully you now know more about yourself, from the true name of your species to your defining characteristics. You should know know when moderns first appeared as well as __where we live__ (as if you didn't know whether your house was in the US or Australia, but you get the point).

As my essay is coming to a close you know should have developed an understanding of yourself, your family and your species, as well as the history of the planet. You know how we became who we are and that we are the last of our genus. You should feel more important and less important at the same time, for the same reason. We are the only remaining hominid race. This should make you feel important, inspired to live a good life, yet smaller, less important since we are not so special- there were others like us before us, and there will be after. But what will these 'afters' be like? Will they fly? Will they swim? Will they go back down the path of evolution?

Only time will tell.