How we changed as the World changed

The planet has been changing in a variety of ways over time. Before the human race appeared 65 million years ago, the world was inhabited by many animals, including the Mammoths. These species were among the world's largest Elephantidae and populated the prairie and tundra zones. This is an illustration of an earth dominator. It is not necessary for creatures to have large bodies to rule the world. The most valuable thing they should have is the ability to adapt and live in this harsh environment. So far, humans have proven to be the most influential evolutionary beings on the planet.
Humans and early great apes are descended from the same ancestor. Theoretically, human evolution was divided into three stages. The first stage is the ancient ape, the second is half human and ape (in this stage “human” could make tools), the third stage was divided into two subgroups: pithecanthrope and Homo sapiens. They were also divided into early and late stages. But the exact line which distinguishes ape and human is still a subject of discussion even today.
Up to now, there are three theories which explain how people evolved. These theories include Lamarickism, Darwinism, and Synthetic theory. Charles Darwin established “The origin of species” in 1859, which argues that human evolution was the result of natural selection. The major ideas of this theory there: struggle for existence, variation, survival of the fittest and natural selection. One of the weaknesses associated with this theory is that Darwin did not find out the fundamental dissimilarity between human beings and other animals. This means he did not explain how ancient ape evolved to human beings. On the other hand, Friedrich Engels argued that work created human beings. He wrote that “the most significant difference between human beings and other animals labor” in his article.
In paragraph two, I discussed various things concerning human evolution. In this paragraph, I am going to discuss in-depth details concerning how people evolved. During the Miocene epoch, the Hominoidea family separated to form two subfamilies namely; the Pongidae (apes) and the Hominidae (humans). Dryopithecus was among the ape species which lived in various countries including Africa, China, India and Europe. The term Dryopithecus means oak wood because it is believed that these creatures lived in densely forested tropical lowlands, and they belonged to the herbivorous category.
Ramapithecus: Initially, the first remains of this creature were found in Shivalik hills in Punjab and later in Saudi Arabia, Africa. Unlike Dryopithecus, which lived in densely forested areas, this creature lived in open grasslands. A hominid status of this creature is based on two perspectives. One of these perspectives was there was a Fossil evidence showing robust jaws, thickened tooth enamel, and shorter canines. The other characteristics of his creature include its upright posture and the possible use of hands for food and defense.
Australopithecus: This creature is the immediate forerunner of the genus Homo. The first creature from this category was discovered in 1924 by Raymond Dart at Taung, a limestone quarry site in South Africa. Some of the characteristics associated with this group include; they walked upright, lived on the ground and possibly used stones as their primary weapons for hunting small animals. The Australathophecus weighed between 60 to 90 pounds and were around 4 feet in height.
Home Erectus: Eugine Duboise was the first on to discover these species. After identifying the home Erectus in Java, he named it as Pithecanthropus Erectus which could be translated as the erect ape-man. Another species were later discovered in China, southwest of Peking known as the Peking man. Some of the characteristics associated ith this creature is that it had larger cranial capacity, lived in communal existence and used fire. The cranial capabilities of the two Homo erectus varied from approximately 775 to 1300 CC. These species used stone tools which were largely made of quartz and wooden spears. Research has also shown that home Erectus participated in big game hunting, which indicates this species valued collective cooperative hunting. There is also a possibility that these species could have been living in caves. The primary advancement of these species is that they were using fire for various functions
Approximately 12 million years ago, the action of geologic fault formed the rift valley in eastern Africa, which in turn created two individual animal systems and later became the imperative spot of human development. The nature of this valley, especially the western side favored the survival habits of these apes because it had a moist forest. The way of survival and the features associated with the rift valley environment made the Apes to evolve differently from Gorillas. However, in the eastern part of this valley, a lot of changes occurred including a decrease in rainfall. The decline in rainfall led to the disappearance of forests, and grassland began to emerge, hence resulting in the vanishing of the most ancestors of modern apes. A Little number of these creatures which were characterized by the ability to climb trees adapted to the new environment. Adapting to the new environment hindered their extinction, and gave them the chance to evolve to human beings. During those times, these creatures were known as the Southern Apes.
Approximately 5-8 million years ago, the southern ape evolved from various categories of Apes including the chimpanzees. Different Studies indicate the evolution differences between human beings and the chimpanzees were approximately 5 to 8 million years ago, and this could indicate there is a close relationship between the two creatures. One of the significant advancements of the southern Apes is they mostly used their feet to walk but still liked to spend most of their time on trees. During this period, these apes still maintained their ancestors’ external characteristics including little thinking capacity, small body size, long arms and short legs. Other features associated with the Southern apes include they were herbivores, they had large molars and front tooth as compared to those of human beings.
After some time, African climate started to worsen. Some of its parts like the northern hemispheres gained ice, and with time the place became dry. The prairie plains also started to become grasslands, and this made the southern apes to vanish. However, some prairies especially the apes of the south survived. The southern ape groups managed to use their creativity to come up with improved defensive mechanisms. Currently, there is a perception that some of the defensive strategies used by these creatures included throwing stones, making weapons from wood, and lighting fire to chase away their enemies. Because of their improved intelligence, the southern apes were able to survive and finally evolve into human beings
The southern apes were followed by the human period. This period was characterized by two stages which Anthropologists named them as Pithecanthropus and Homo sapiens. In the evolution stage of Pithecanthropus, the first human creature to appear in the world about 3 to 2.7 million years ago was known as archaic Pithecanthropus. These species were located in different parts of the world. Some of these places include different parts of china like Yunan and other places. According to Anthologists, the two primary species found in this country were known as Sinanthropus and Yuanmouensis. Archaic Pithecanthropus resembled the southern apes because they could use simple weapons to hunt and prevent themselves from other predators, although they had bigger thinking capacities than the southern apes. This change indicates these species had started to think about different strategies for surviving in an unfriendly environment. With time, the archaic Pithecanthropus learned how to the unit through hunting together and also began to eat meat from time to time to improve proteins in their bodies.
Approximately 1.55 million years to 300 thousand years ago, archaic Pithecanthropus evolved to late Pithecanthropus. These species were also known as Homo erectus and had bigger brains than the archaic Pithecanthropus. Some of the characteristics associated with late Pithecanthropus include flat and thick skulls. Their average height was approximately 160cm and their lower extremities were very familiar to those of human beings. This was a big change in the evolution process because these species used legs to walk and most of their physical appearances resembled those of human beings.
Around 5 million years ago, Apes had pale skin which was covered by dark hair. 3.2 million years ago, no bigger changes had occurred in their bodies because the hair was still thick and the skin was pale. 15 million years ago, their body hair disappeared because they lived near the equator, and their skin became darker than before. The dark skin played a significant role in preventing the loss of folic acid during strong sunlight. When Homo erectus evolved, their skin color was similar to that of modern Africans, but when they moved away from Africa the color became lighter than before. According to research, the light skin had an advantage over the dark skin color because it could synthesize more vitamin D than dark skins in the cases of limited sunlight.
Different theories exist concerning Homo sapiens’ earliest appearance on earth. For example, most of the anthropologists think they appeared about 200 thousand years ago, but the scientific community does not agree with this claim. By analyzing fossils and DNA, one can conclude that these species originated from east Africa.
The Homo sapiens which are also called Paleoanthropus lived about 200 thousand years to 50 thousand years ago. There are more than 70 places where the fossils associated with these species can be found today. Among the two most recent places where the Homo sapiens’ fossils were discovered include Gibraltar in Spain and a cave located in Dusseldorf in Germany. In Spain, the fossils were discovered in 1848 while in Germany they were discovered in 1856. The first fossils which caught public attention were found in the Neanderthal Valley, and that is the reason they were called “Neanderthal” in the past. The Early Homo sapiens were able to make complex tools, knew how to make fire, and had advanced to using animal skin as clothes. At that period, early Homo sapiens adapted the tradition of burying the dead clansman. The social form entered as matriarchal clan society and they began to marry from unrelated people.
Late Homo sapiens were also called Neoanthropus Homo sapiens and lived around 50 thousand years to 10 thousand years ago. The earliest fossils of these creatures were discovered in a cave located in France in 1868. Some of the characteristics of Neoanthropus Homo sapiens include perpendicular foreheads and wide faces. The late Homo sapiens were very similar to the modern human beings. These creatures had 4 species namely; white, yellow, black and brown. In the late stage of Homo sapiens, technology was more diverse and specialized. The stone artifacts during this period were more progressive, and the methods of making stone artifacts were not only direct but also indirect. In this period, there were a variety of tools made of stone and bones. Some of the tools made of stone included knives, carving machines, and weapons used for various tasks like defense and lighting fire. The ones made of bones comprise of spears, harpoons, fishing hooks, and needles. During this period, Homo sapiens paid attention to hunting, and that could be one of the major reasons why hunting weapons had major improvements. In 1933, people discovered skulls and broken bones in a cave located in Zhoukoudian, Beijing. They also discovered 8.2cm bone needle which indicates the late Homo sapiens used tools to make clothes. There were also some necklaces made from animal teeth and shells, meaning these creatures had adapted the human cultures. Apart from living in caves, the Homo sapiens also lived in houses because they began constructing buildings from various materials. They also had a great improvement on art-related aspects, like making statues and cave paintings.
The evolution of Homo sapiens can be termed as extraordinary because from the perspective of biological evolution, 20 thousand years is very short duration. From the tropics to the poles, human beings are found all over the world now. The fact that nowadays the “homo sapiens” are even thinking of living in the space shows great prosperity and development of thinking capacities. Apart from human beings, no other living things can evolve like thi