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Human Journeys: Evolution
For the last few decades, the evolutionary history of human beings have been out of science views. However, these days, there is a new discovery about the evolution of human being every month. The human being have the same genetic codes with the rest of the life on Earth. Most of the fundamental traits of these genetic codes come from the long evolutionary history which has been happening since before the human lineage break away from the apes more than 6 millions years ago. However, the human beings also have their own unique characteristics and adaptations.
Early Hominids
The early hominids from millions of years ago were more like apes. These hominids are shorter and had smaller brains compared to the contemporary human beings. However, these early humans have a profound characteristics that is very unique, that sets them apart from other animals. These hominids can stand up and also walk. The first transformation or evolution that took place was called the Bipedalism. This was the first evolution that started the rest of the evolutions that lead to the modern human beings of today.
Theories
According to the primatologist at the University of Southern California of the Jane Goodall Research Center, Craig Stanford, the early hominids become bipeds or started to stand in two feet when these hominids transferred to the savanna from the forest to look for isolated trees and tall grasses. However, there has been recent studies that can prove this theory otherwise. According to Stanford himself, the idea of a weak hominid moving out of the forest towards the savanna and learned how to stand in two feet may be a great idea, but this is probably fiction. According to recent studies that took a closer look into this evolution the hominids moved out to a place where there were less trees, not the savanna. Even before the hominids moved out of the forest, they were already walking on two feet.
Evolution of Bipeds
At present, scientists are figuring out how the early hominids evolved into bipeds in the forest. They must first determine where the upright walking of the hominids evolved from. There are some clues that can be found in the fossils that they have found, but their opinions are divided for the meaning of the clues that these fossils provide. Some study the skeleton of Lucy and say he walked the way modern human beings do, while others say Lucy stayed more in the trees. They haven’t found any skeletons below Lucy yet, making it hard for them to tell about the earlier hominids. The best clues they can find are from the living apes of today. However, they are still not sure how the chimpanzees evolved from the same ancestor that human beings have.