I was going through the evolutionary background of the human race when something struck me. We have hundreds of bone fragments, tools and shelters of the ancestors (read homo), but we don't see any of them. If the species were selected for survival, they would have been able to make their way until the current age. It is said that Neanderthals were the closest relatives to Modern Humans (considering Cro Magnons are modern humans).
This question has lingered me from a long time now. How is that a H. Erectus which was bipedal, capable of moving across continents and forming little social groups, cannot survive until the modern era. If Bonobos, Gorillas, Chimps and some monkeys which are genetically our cousins, could make it this far, why don't we see our ancestors doing it ? If any of the other hominins were a direct ancestor to us, it does not mean that it had to die out. However, I still wonder that over generations, the change that were suitable for a better living survived and the changes that were unsuitable were cut off midway. It provides some sense in understanding the way evolution might have worked.
Going by the above logic, it must be fair to understand that we were our own ancestors. Only that we have changed over a million years and the suitable changes have survived. It is refreshing to understand that. It is also proven by scientists that there were indeed numerous ancestral cousins to us which died out in due course.
It is fascinating what other changes would be brought about by natural selection. One of the aspects that I have been able to see is that we are more concious of height. The probable way is that our future generations over a few thousand years would be much taller than us (probably reaching until 2 meters) with a bigger cranium to hold more information. I guess that the limbs would get weaker due lack of locomotion when compared to our ancestors.
It is indeed exciting to be a human being.
This question has lingered me from a long time now. How is that a H. Erectus which was bipedal, capable of moving across continents and forming little social groups, cannot survive until the modern era. If Bonobos, Gorillas, Chimps and some monkeys which are genetically our cousins, could make it this far, why don't we see our ancestors doing it ? If any of the other hominins were a direct ancestor to us, it does not mean that it had to die out. However, I still wonder that over generations, the change that were suitable for a better living survived and the changes that were unsuitable were cut off midway. It provides some sense in understanding the way evolution might have worked.
Going by the above logic, it must be fair to understand that we were our own ancestors. Only that we have changed over a million years and the suitable changes have survived. It is refreshing to understand that. It is also proven by scientists that there were indeed numerous ancestral cousins to us which died out in due course.
It is fascinating what other changes would be brought about by natural selection. One of the aspects that I have been able to see is that we are more concious of height. The probable way is that our future generations over a few thousand years would be much taller than us (probably reaching until 2 meters) with a bigger cranium to hold more information. I guess that the limbs would get weaker due lack of locomotion when compared to our ancestors.
It is indeed exciting to be a human being.
