The Himalayas and Alps have appeared one after another, and there are 8,000 kilometers of fault valleys in East Africa. Because of such large-scale crustal movement, great changes have taken place in the world climate, especially where did humans come from and how did they develop and evolve? These problems have always been of great interest to people. At present, people's understanding of these problems mainly depends on the study of ancient humans and various ape fossils (including remains, remains and relics), as well as the comparative study of people and apes around the world.
origin of man
Taxonomically, modern humans belong to mammals and primates among vertebrates. Among primates, humans are most similar to apes (including chimpanzees, orangutans, gorillas and gibbons). However, humans also have characteristics that apes do not have: for example, walking upright; Able to use tools and manufacturing tools; Have a developed brain, can think about problems and solve difficulties; There are also complex languages that can be used to communicate; Wait a minute. So, what is the relationship between man and ape? How did human beings originate?
The transition from apes to humans.
Paleoanthropologists believe that 78 million years ago, the * * * ancestors of human beings and apes-ancient apes began to evolve in different directions, and this process was carried out under specific environmental conditions.
In Cenozoic Tertiary, orogeny was very active all over the world, but in Cenozoic Quaternary, climate change intensified and a series of ice ages appeared. Under the influence of great changes in topography and climate, some original continuous forests are gradually sparse, and the open space in the forest is constantly expanding, and finally it is replaced by savanna (pictured). At this time, some ancient apes living here gradually changed from arboreal life to terrestrial life, and finally evolved into human beings; And the part of the ape that stayed in the forest evolved into an ape.
After living in the open field far away from trees, human ancestors were gradually able to use branches and stones to resist wild animals or dig roots for food. In this process, great changes have taken place in the body structure of ancient apes, the most important of which is the change from walking on all fours to walking upright on two feet. This transformation not only enhanced the survival ability of human ancestors, but also caused a series of adaptive changes in their body structure, such as the downward movement of body center of gravity, the growth of lower limb bones, the shortening and widening of pelvis, and the transformation of spine from arch to S-shape. Therefore, it can be said that the basic structural characteristics of human body are related to bipedal walking. In addition, bipedal walking completely liberated the forelimbs of human ancestors from walking and supporting the body, creating conditions for various activities and further development and expansion of the brain. The significance of bipedal walking makes anthropologists regard this condition as an important criterion for the demarcation between humans and apes.
In the process of using natural tools, human ancestors gradually learned to make tools. The tools made by early humans were all stone tools (pictured). These stone tools are often found with animal remains and artificial broken bones, and paleoanthropologists infer that the appearance of stone tools is closely related to early human hunting and carnivorous behavior. In the process of making and using tools, the brains of human ancestors became more and more developed, and languages gradually came into being, forming human society.