Wallace, Darwin's forgotten "frenemy"
Homo Floresiensis skull, hominin species analyzed in the study (The Duckworth Laboratory) |
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It's bizarre: humans are competitive like animals |
In the past, scientists (anthropologists) believed that hominin evolution was largely driven by changes in climate. But now, research from the University of Cambridge has suggested that competition was, in fact, fundamental to hominin evolution.
Wallace, you were right. - I know, Darwin. |
"The effect of climate on hominin species is only part of the story."
Interspecies [not to be confused with intraspecies or between humans] competition is common among most other vertebrates: in any new environment there is an explosion of species evolution as each species adapts to fill a particular niche.
I shoulda killed that Wallace to evolve. |
However, when van Holstein studied the evolution of our own genus, Homo, things started to get much more peculiar.
"The more species of Homo there were, the higher the rate of speciation," she said. "So when those niches got filled, something drove even more species to emerge. This is almost unparalleled in evolutionary science."
In other words, it appears as if competition between different Homo species actually drove the evolution of even more Homo species — a complete reversal of what we would expect to see based on the evolution of most other vertebrates.
Here's what would happen if ALL humans completely disappeared (Aperture)
COMMENTARY
So Long, Thanks for All Fish |
- Pandora Dewan [pronounced dawn?], Newsweek.com via MSN.com, June 11, 2024 ('Bizarre' finding changes the way we think about human evolution); Pat Macpherson, Dhr. Seven, Ashley Wells (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly
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