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Was there ever a human whose parent was an ape?
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Was human evolution gradual? How did the traits characteristic of the genus Homo appear? And did they appear at once? Evolution works in mysterious ways but in this episode we will try to present some possible answers to these questions. We will review available evidence on the various hominin species that have appeared and disappeared in the past 7 million years and ramble a bit about peculiar examples. If you would like to explore the topic some more, we created a list of references that could get you started:
Upright walking and how it evolved
Rodman, P. S., & McHenry, H. M. (1980). Bioenergetics and the origin of hominid bipedalism. American Journal of Physical Anthropology, 52(1), 103–106. https://doi.org/10.1002/ajpa.1330520113
Foley, R. A., & Elton, S. (1998). Time and Energy: The Ecological Context for the Evolution of Bipedalism BT - Primate Locomotion: Recent Advances. In E. Strasser, J. G. Fleagle, A. L. Rosenberger, & H. M. McHenry (Eds.) (pp. 419–433). Boston, MA: Springer US. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4899-0092-0_21
Ardipithecus ramidus and bipedal adaptations
Lovejoy, C. O., Suwa, G., Spurlock, L., Asfaw, B., & White, T. D. (2009). The Pelvis and Femur of <em>Ardipithecus ramidus</em>: The Emergence of Upright Walking. Science, 326(5949), 71 LP-71e6. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1175831
The knuckle-walking adaptations in hominin species
Richmond, B. G., Begun, D. R., & Strait, D. S. (2001). Origin of human bipedalism: The knuckle-walking hypothesis revisited. American Journal of Physical Anthropology, 116(S33), 70–105. https://doi.org/10.1002/ajpa.10019
BUT: some evidence against these adaptations being related to knuckle-walking
Kivell, T. L., & Schmitt, D. (2009). Independent evolution of knuckle-walking in African apes shows that humans did not evolve from a knuckle-walking ancestor. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 106(34), 14241 LP – 14246. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0901280106
Life-history changes, bigger body as a buffer against environmental adversity, partnership in human evolution
Antón, S. C., Potts, R., & Aiello, L. C. (2014). Evolution of early Homo: An integrated biological perspective. Science, 345(6192), 1236828. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1236828
Diet – size of gut and size of brain
Hladik, C. M., Chivers, D. J., & Pasquet, P. (1999). On Diet and Gut Size in Non‐human Primates and Humans: Is There a Relationship to Brain Size? Current Anthropology, 40(5), 695–697. https://doi.org/10.1086/300099
The two big theories – is there gradual change or big jumps between stages
Sheldon, P. R. (2001, April 19). Punctuated Equilibrium and Phyletic Gradualism. ELS. https://doi.org/doi:10.1038/npg.els.0001774
The little Homo species – Homo naledi and Homo floresiensis
Berger, L. R., Hawks, J., Dirks, P. H. G. M., Elliott, M., & Roberts, E. M. (2017). Homo naledi and Pleistocene hominin evolution in subequatorial Africa, 1–19. https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.24234
Lindell, B., & Marcel, C. (2007). Primates follow the ‘island rule’: implications for interpreting Homo floresiensis. Biology Letters, 3(4), 398–400. https://doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2007.0113
Australopithecus afarensis – living the life for almost 1 million years
Kimbel, W. H., Johanson, D. C., & Rak, Y. (1994). The first skull and other new discoveries of Australopithecus afarensis at Hadar, Ethiopia. Nature, 368(6470), 449–451. https://doi.org/10.1038/368449a0
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