EVOLUTION OF US
It's about six million years ago in Africa. Look! Up in the trees. It's a bird; it's a plane. Well no, it's some kind of rat.
- Over time, the rat grows to have longer arms, good gripping fingers, and a tail. The eyes move to the front, and now the post-rat can judge distance. It was such a bother missing the branch and having to climb the tree again.
- The jungle starts to shrink, and it's time to move. Some of these guys with arms and legs decide to go out on the savannah (grassland). They find more to eat there, but the hazardous environment also forces the animals to plan more carefully and hunt together. Walking upright sure helps. Those animals staying behind become the chimps, gorillas, and monkeys, and nothing really pushes them to think more.
- We're still back in time about three and a half million years ago, and three beings take a walk in Tanzania. According to the footprints left for us, we can envision a tall stroller followed by a shorter one, and the third one might be a child. The group possibly lives in a cave and can sharpen up some stones, control fire, and get along as a family. Are they human? The walkers' heads can definitely carry bigger brains, and we know a couple of reasons for this development: The female is closer to the size of the male making the birth passage larger. And the human child is premature when born allowing the undeveloped but larger head through the birth canal. The head then doubles in size the first year. A newborn chimp is more independent than a human baby but doesn't advance much after birth.
- What makes these three walkers superior to all the other apelike creatures around? Our ancestors lived at the same time as Neanderthals, but we outlasted them. Perhaps our voice box lowered in the throat allowing for more varieties of sounds. Such ability can certainly drive culture, and about forty thousand years ago, we started developing many different skills making stoves, clothing, and boats.
