Evolution Man, Or, How I Ate My Father

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Debate over the definition of which fossil remains represent modern humans, given these disparities, is common among experts. So much so that some seek to simplify the characterization by considering them part of a single, diverse group.

Man: ancient skull from China could be new human species Dragon Man: ancient skull from China could be new human species

Neanderthals once stretched across Eurasia from Portugal and the British Isles to Siberia. As Homo sapiens became more prevalent across these areas the Neanderthals faded in their turn, being generally consigned to history by some 40,000 years ago. Some evidence suggests that a few die-hards might have held on in enclaves, like Gibraltar, until perhaps 29,000 years ago. Even today traces of them remain because modern humans carry Neanderthal DNA in their genome. On the earth, homo sapiens are the most important species on our earth which is the result of over 7 million years of evolution. The traces of the evolution of humans have been obtained through the records of fossils and through the studies of physiological, morphological, and embryological.Our more mysterious cousins, the Denisovans, left behind so few identifiable fossils that scientists aren’t exactly sure what they looked like, or if they might have been more than one species. A recent study of human genomes in Papua New Guinea suggests that humans may have lived with and interbred with Denisovans there as recently as 15,000 years ago, though the claims are controversial. Their genetic legacy is more certain. Many living Asian people inherited perhaps 3 to 5 percent of their DNA from the Denisovans. Fossils often boast a mixture of modern and primitive features, and those don’t evolve uniformly toward our modern anatomy. Instead, certain features seem to change in different places and times, suggesting separate clusters of anatomical evolution would have produced quite different looking people. Most scientists currently recognize some 15 to 20 different species of early humans. Scientists do not all agree, however, about how these species are related or which ones simply died out. Many early human species -- certainly the majority of them – left no living descendants. Scientists also debate over how to identify and classify particular species of early humans, and about what factors influenced the evolution and extinction of each species.

Human evolution | Natural History Museum Human evolution | Natural History Museum

Two key models have been put forward to explain the evolution of human beings, mainly the Homo sapiens, namely the ‘out of Africa’ model and the ‘multi-regional’ model. The ‘out of Africa’ model at present is the most accepted model. It proposes that Homo sapiens evolved in Africa before they migrated across the world. The theory that improving cognitive capabilities would allow hominins to influence local groups and control resources. Toba catastrophe theoryDanuvius guggenmosi is the first-discovered Late Miocene great ape with preserved long bones, and greatly elucidates the anatomical structure and locomotion of contemporary apes. [30] It had adaptations for both hanging in trees ( suspensory behavior) and walking on two legs ( bipedalism)—whereas, among present-day hominids, humans are better adapted for the latter and the others for the former. Danuvius thus had a method of locomotion unlike any previously known ape called "extended limb clambering", walking directly along tree branches as well as using arms for suspending itself. The last common ancestor between humans and other apes possibly had a similar method of locomotion. Renne, Paul R.; Deino, Alan L.; Hilgen, Frederik J.; Kuiper, Klaudia F.; Mark, Darren F.; Mitchell, William S.; Morgan, Leah E.; Mundil, Roland; Smit, Jan (7 February 2013). "Time Scales of Critical Events Around the Cretaceous-Paleogene Boundary". Science. 339 (6120): 684–87. Bibcode: 2013Sci...339..684R. doi: 10.1126/science.1230492. PMID 23393261. S2CID 6112274.

Human evolution | History, Stages, Timeline, Tree, Chart

A number of theories examine the relationship between environmental conditions and human evolution. e.g. light skin in Europeans and East Asians ( KITLG, ASIP), after 30 ka; [71] Inuit adaptation to high-fat diet and cold climate, 20 ka. [72]

The earliest anthropoids, Parapithecus, Propliopithecus, etc., represented by the remains of jaws were first discovered in the Oligocene bed of Egypt.