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What conditions in Africa that supported the first appearance of our ancestors?

2006-09-24 12:52:21 · 14 answers · asked by Anonymous in Social Science Anthropology

14 answers

I would argue that it didn't. The evolution of humanity began when the first self-replicating macromolecule made a mistake in replicating, and made a different version of itself.

Africa entered into the picture only when the animal kingdom took advantage of the terrestrial plants. Although it sounds like a looooong time ago, all the time since is still not even a quarter of the time we spent before making that leap.

As far as hominids are concerned, it was probably the shifting environment: the primates we are most closely related to are forest dwellers, such as chimpanzees and bonobos.

It is hard to say "this condition caused it," it was more just the way we adapted to fit our environment. We are incredibly generalized, and many argue that we are poorly constructed. But primates as a whole have large brains; we merely exemplify this. Our ancestors solved the problem of, "Where's food going to come from?" by communication and having a social life. This required extended childhood and bigger brains, and everything kind of grew alongside one another. It really wasn't the physical environment, I don't think; it was our survival strategy that made us "humanity." It was being in groups, learning, becoming increasingly bipedal and having larger brains. The bigger the brains and the greater social complexity we had, the longer we needed to have to learn before being able to survive individually. Which meant less mobility for the family and greater need for carrying food back. So the things that define us are more about how we relate to one another and to our massive oversize brains than the conditions of Africa, it seems. That just happened to be where it occured. It had to happen somewhere for us to be here to wonder about it.

2006-09-25 17:20:43 · answer #1 · answered by almethod2004 2 · 2 0

The common ancestor of apes, gorillas, chimpanzees, monkeys and man, lived in Africa.
Please note, Man is NOT descended from apes,gorillas, chimpanzees, or monkeys, but they do have a common ancestor. And that creature lived in what is now Africa.
What the conditions were like at the time the first humanoid appeared is really still in the realm of hypothesis.
Likely, the climate was warm, food was easily obtained, and there were not too many predators.
The more interesting question is 'why' did the humanoid emerge from the family of apes, and why didn't other descendents of that common ancestor also take the great leap forward in mobility, dexterity and language?

2006-09-24 13:04:36 · answer #2 · answered by old lady 7 · 2 0

Most of the old world monkeys lived in that area. Humans evolved due to the regression of forests and the increase of the savanna environment. It was a combination of A. a species very close to being bipedal and intelligent, and B. the environment in Africa changing for a bipedal and intelligent species. There are actually many, many more reasons, but these are the basics.

2006-09-25 04:25:43 · answer #3 · answered by Take it from Toby 7 · 1 0

My wager is that, in this study, the innovations is being replaced as new well-knownshows advise diverse innovations. It, of route, must be presented. Africa exhibits the most skill for being "roots" yet for the reason that digging deep into the earth is exertions intensive and expensive, it will be a lengthy time period earlier we are able to understand for particular. Lucy makes the most experience yet that all we ought to flow on. existence ameliorations faster than in the previous idea and the earth ameliorations, so going again 100,000 years isn't like on the on the spot. we must be genuine careful about declaring that hassle-free ancestors were one shade or yet another for racists will take income of innovations that somewhat can not be shown. in case you assert black or white is the first then the different will say that they are stronger ones. extra ideal to flow with the unidentified flying merchandise human beings and say we come from the "greys". lol

2016-11-23 19:46:01 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0 0

one branch of the earliest primate took to trees and became the ancestors of modern apes( like chimpanzees, guerrillas) and the other branch took to open grounds and later evolved as humans. primates were found all over the world but why this branch of primate first developed in africa is not for sure, but may be because when our brains started developing they needed more of protiens and a nutrient(which i don't remember) which can be found a lot in flesh. as there were more oppurtunities of gaining flesh in open grounds so our ancesstors took to open lands. now may be by chance or due to certain conditions only the primates of africa were able to take to land.

2006-09-25 19:28:46 · answer #5 · answered by givaloluputya (greedy for taste) 2 · 0 0

There are a number of rival theories, but one of the most significant is probably the "East Side Story" theory. This states that the conditions after the formation of the Great Rift Valley (in what is now Kenya and Tanzania) were very conducive to early hominid development.

2006-09-24 18:21:52 · answer #6 · answered by zed hex 2 · 2 0

there are about a million theories about that. one theory is that as the climate in africa became dry a couple of million years ago and the forests therefore retreated and were replaced by grassland, bipedal apes had a survival advantage because they were better equipped to deal with the specific dangers of the savannah, for instance could see predators approach earlier because they were able to see over the grass. if you're really interested in that i suggest you get a good book on evolutionary biology - once again i recommend richard dawkins - it's amazing reading! :-)

2006-09-24 13:07:22 · answer #7 · answered by nerdyhermione 4 · 2 0

Very interesting question and what is more interesting, are the answers that reflect ones own inability to accept fact and truths as presented by those who specialize in and study the origins of our species. I can understand why you read reports of important finds of artifacts and information that were unpublished or suppressed or hidden away, and in some cases, destroyed, due to the fact that it would upset the “Status Quo.”

2006-09-24 22:25:20 · answer #8 · answered by arrow_head72002 4 · 0 0

It had the largest primate population. The climate and vegetation were ideal for primate habitat. Evolution was inevitible.

2006-09-24 13:02:53 · answer #9 · answered by Isis 7 · 0 0

Maybe your ancestors but not mine. Mine started in what is now known as Missouri

2006-09-24 13:01:41 · answer #10 · answered by oldman 7 · 0 3

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