Essay on The Environments of the Earliest Australopithecus

The Australopithecine are some of the earliest known hominids and they embody many characteristics that are associated with bipedalism. Bipedalism is a highly specialized and unusual form of primate locomotion that sets modern humans apart from all other living primates as we are the only extant obligate bipeds. Many evolutionary biologists and paleoanthropologists have devoted innumerable research hours to attempting to understand this unique form of locomotion and how it evolved. A number of interdependent morphological adaptations occurred over a long period of time to solve challenges posed by habitual bipedalism. As a result, there are obvious differences that exist between early and late hominin species.

Michel Brunet and his team found the fossil in the sand dunes of northern Chad after “a decade of digging”(Whitfield 2002). This discovery is most definitely a new one and one that will cause the reinterpretation of all previous hominid research. What makes this find so spectacular is that the structure of the skull suggests a being that walked upright, though it lived in a time when apes and chimpanzees also existed. “Sahelanthropus has many traits that shout ‘hominid’. These include smaller canines, and thicker tooth enamel than apes. And the point at the back of the skull where neck muscles attach suggests that Toumai walked upright”(Whitfield 2002). The key to this discovery, Brunet believes, is the back of the skull that suggests a muscle attachment for upright walking ability, which supports the scientist’s theory that

Afropithecus is a fairly large extinct ape- 50kg, characterized by a lack of a prehensile tail, long snout with procumbent incisors, generalized limb proportions and thick molar enamel. The braincase of Afropithecus is fairly small in size compared to other Miocene apes and Old World Monkeys from the same area. The primitive characteristics of Afropithecus suggest a relation to early catarrhines- such as Aegyptopithecus. And the post-cranial fossil record suggest that it was both arboreal and quadrupedal, similar to the proconsul that Afropithecus is categorized

The Australopithecine are some of the earliest known hominids and they embody many characteristics that are associated with bipedalism. Bipedalism is a highly specialized and unusual form of primate locomotion that sets modern humans apart from all other living primates as we are the only extant obligate bipeds. Many evolutionary biologists and paleoanthropologists have devoted innumerable research hours to attempting to understand this unique form of locomotion and how it evolved. A number of interdependent morphological adaptations occurred over a long period of time to solve challenges posed by habitual bipedalism. As a result, there are differences that exist between early and late hominin species.

Masters of the Planet is organized historically, and traces the diverse and complicated history of hominids over the past 8 million years. The book begins with the ancient origins of the hominid lineage, it outlines the rise of bipedal apes beginning with Australopithecus (including “Lucy”), the harsh life on the savannah, the multiple emergence from Africa, the spread of early "Homo" throughout the Old World continents, the misunderstood Neanderthals (our distant cousins) and finally the arrival of modern Homo sapiens.

Bipedalism is a highly specialized and unusual form of primate locomotion that sets modern humans apart from all other living primates as we are the only extant obligate bipeds. Many evolutionary biologists and paleoanthropologists have devoted innumerable research hours to this unique form of locomotion. While much of the extinct taxa within Hominidae were bipedal, but the degree to which they were bipedal remains the subject of considerable debate. The significant discoveries of fossil hominin remains in the last 40 years have resulted in this debate becoming increasingly focused on how bipedal certain fossil taxa were rather than on the overall process. Although the early hominin fossil record remains poor, evidence points to at least

Hypothesis: if the skull has a hole farther from the jaw then I believe it's bipedal, maybe 4 organisms of the skills I have seen are bipedal

To begin this essay, Lovejoy appeals the notion of human uniqueness while focusing on human’s ability to be bipedal. By doing this, he introduces the possibilities of the first bipedal ancestor of humans while focusing the relation to other ape’s morphology. Lovejoy first discusses early Australopithecine as one the possibilities for a last common ancestor with chimpanzee, but quickly moves to Ardipithecus ramidus with their thesis of through examining the morphology and social behavioral structure of a CLCA , A. ramidcus can prove the African ape based models are not necessary. African apes models that are used to illustrate human and hominid behavior have become unreliable. To replace these models, Lovejoy proposes adaptive suites and explains

But why was bipedalism so critical to human evolution? It is the earliest human feature to have evolved in hominins. Darwin felt that it was to free up the hands for making of tools and weapons. However, the first stone tools don’t appear until approximately 2.5mya, many years after the first evidence of bipedalism in hominids. A more logical explanation may be that bipedalism was selected simply because it is superior to walking quadrupedally. The Efficient Walker theory argues that bipedalism enabled hominids to travel further to locate food and fertile territory which coincided with the disappearance of Miocene forests and emergence of savannas in Africa.

The issue at hand in these articles is the evidence for the development of bipedalism in hominids. Bipedalism seems to be one of the most important factors in the evolution of mankind and therefore the surrounding debate is rife with various hypotheses as to the background of this development in hominid evolutionary history. Although each of the three articles reviewed in this essay make different arguments, each seem to be cogent in their own way and do seem to complement each other. The first of which is C. Owen Lovejoy 's Human Origins.

Bipeds have adapted various associated morphological qualities that understand challenges postured by frequent bipedalism. These anatomical traits developed over a huge number of years and contrasts exist amongst prior and later Australopithecus, Paranthropus, and Homo species. Australopithecine and paranthropine development speaks to an outstanding stride in the advancement of people on the grounds that these species are among the soonest hominins known to have evolved.

One of the most intriguing aspects surrounding this topic is the multiple different hypotheses for the evolution from quadrupedal gait to bipedal locomotion. Due to the fact that evidence suggests that the emergence of bipedalism occurred as early as 6 millions years ago, there have been many hyptotheses as to how the earliest hominids

Who were the australopithecines? Australopithecine was the shared term for the genus of fossil hominid that existed among, “2 to 5 million years ago in the region of East Africa and is distinguished by a bipedal locomotion, but an undersized brain size” (Frisancho, 2006). Australopithecus is a different hominid genus that developed previously than Homo. In reality, genus Homo seems to have progressed from the genus Australopithecus. The hominid lineage diagram is assembled by genus, or by associated species in the instance of the initial assemblage. The particular relationships amongst these types are not well comprehended and undoubtedly several others are expecting to be found.

There has been much debate concerning the origins of bipedalism. Bipedalism, or the ability to move on two legs (eLucy, 2007) was said to have emerged due to climate change in East Africa, for sexual display purpose, to reduce exposure to sunlight, the need to use weapons and tools and many more (NOVA, 2013). There are numerous arguments associated with bipedalism as no one can be entirely sure as to what constituted to the emergence of this trait, which was first present in hominins Australopithecus Afarensis. Anthropologists claim that there is a missing link in the evolutionary lineage that makes it hard to confirm the real cause of bipedalism emergence. However, there are some models which are widely accepted by scientific world, such

Homo erectus, a species found globally, lived from around 1.8. million years ago, to about 300,000 years ago. They were part of the genus Homo, which began emerging around 2.8 million years ago, and evolved from the genus Australopithecus, which inhabited the world around 3.8. million years ago. Homo erectus was unique in their ability to adapt to new environments, which allowed them to migrate to continents apart from Africa (04/12 lecture). The new ecological niches resulted in physical adaptations and a wide mosaic of traits within the species. Despite the variation there are many traits that are consistent found in species before and after the lifespan of Homo erectus. Homogeneous traits within the species included obligate bipedalism,