Various human races Evolution
Human beings have lived for tens of millions of years from the beginning of evolution to the present.
If we understand the relevant historical records and scientific discoveries, I believe most people will not believe it in this long history.
Early humans not only had multiple species , but also were completely different from today's Homo sapiens in their activities and social expressions .
Now only Homo sapiens are left living on the earth , and no matter which colored they are, the genes of modern humans are surprisingly consistent. Of course, this is good and bad.
From a scientific research perspective, 's relatively small number of human race genes helps scientists develop new drugs for human use.
But on the negative side of , human genetic diversity is facing a test today.
Because the genetic similarity is too high, the difference between different races is about 2%.
This makes humans have weaker disease resistance than , so once a large-scale epidemic breaks out, it will often lead to the emergence of piles of infected people.
However, there were at least kinds of humans on the earth .1 million years ago, but why were we the only ones left in the end?
Or in today’s human hominidae family, why is there only one species left, Homo sapiens?
In fact, there are very complex factors involved in this problem, because is not just a unilateral reason that leads to the reduction of the human race.
Human beings are the only intelligent creatures on earth and are capable of basic production capabilities.
This makes us different from animals in that we can rely on our own hands to create and change the surrounding environment.
In this long process, the changes experienced by human beings include not only pressure from the environment, but also battles between races .
There are also potentially other factors intertwined in human evolutionary history.
Therefore, while discussing this issue, we cannot ignore the changes in the capabilities of Homo sapiens itself, as well as the changes in the environment that feed back to humans.
From the perspective of human evolutionary history, the emergence of Homo sapiens happened .3 million years ago.
In contrast, about million years ago , a branch of the apes evolved into a species of the genus Homo.
Early humans abandoned the long arms of apes and replaced them with stronger legs.
Primates descending from trees to the ground is a great evolution in itself.
From the perspective of behavior mode and activity scope , this gives humans the opportunity to come into contact with a wider world.
And walking upright can help humans go further, and eventually leave the forest system and reach the mainland.
, Homo habilis appeared about 2.4 million years ago. Many researchers believe that this is the first member of the genus Homo to evolve from apes.
Human beings during this period were still relatively thin, weighing about 35 kilograms, and most of them were no more than 1.2 meters tall.
Of course, the most important point is that experts have created the most original tool with their own hands.
These tools could help early humans slaughter animals and make some relatively more exquisite items.
This life lasted for 1 million years, and then Homo erectus appeared.
Humans in ancient times
As we can see from the name, this is the first known completely upright human race.
In proportion to the body shape of apes, Homo erectus has shorter arms and longer and stronger legs relative to the torso, making it more suitable for long-term walking and running.
The evolution of Homo erectus is also reflected in their teeth. The relatively delicate teeth can help Homo erectus eat meat and quickly digest protein .
This is more efficient in increasing the body's energy supply, so in this respect, Homo erectus's brain will be larger than that of ordinary apes .
Scientists also discovered during further excavations that Homo erectus was the first human species to learn to use campfires.
This shows that humans during this period had learned to cook, and eating cooked food allowed humans to obtain food that was easier to digest.
In this way, the brain will get more nutrition .
The development history of Homo erectus is almost nine times as long as modern Homo sapiens has ruled the earth.
From an evolutionary perspective, the emergence of Homo erectus marks the evolution of human beings towards a more efficient and excellent direction .
Since then, a large number of human races have begun to appear all over the earth. The emergence of Homo erectus has improved human activity, which allowed our ancestors to travel further .
Homo Rudolf, Homo heidelberg and Homo floros , these are all human races that once lived on the earth.
However, in comparison with these races, their living conditions are far less rich than those of other races.
The closed environment is a factor that has a greater impact. During this period, the earth experienced land plate changes , which separated many humans.
The timeline of human evolution comes to ,400,000 years ago , Neanderthals appeared. This was perhaps the most powerful human race before the Homo sapiens race developed and grew.
Neanderthals were stronger in stature, and the excavated bone fossils indicate that Neanderthals were engaged in hunting activities for a long time.
The geographical distribution is mainly in the severe cold zones of Europe, Southeast Asia and Central Asia. Therefore, in terms of cold resistance, Neanderthals have stronger adaptability to the environment.
In addition, archaeologists have also found that Neanderthals were able to use more sophisticated tools and lived in complex shelters.
For example, they can use sewing needles made of bones to sew clothes to help them resist the cold wave .
Scientists believe that there were at least 6 species of humans living on the earth 100,000 years ago, and Neanderthals did not gradually disappear from the history of human evolution until around 8,000 years ago.
So what factors influenced the changes in the evolution of our ancestors, leaving only Homo sapiens in the end?
Racial competition
The survival of Homo sapiens is inseparable from the achievements of the times This is not only reflected in the superior intelligence of Homo sapiens .
When studying the history of human evolution and development, paleoanthropologists said that the difference between Homo sapiens and other human species is that only Homo sapiens created countries, religions, and languages .
In the activities of Homo sapiens, perhaps no other species is as "aggressive" as Homo sapiens.
In the geological period from the Pleistocene (about 2.5 million years ago) to 10,000 years ago, human race integration is a problem that cannot be ignored.
Scientists found in the genetic study of modern Homo sapiens that modern Homo sapiens carry the Neanderthal gene in terms of genetic composition.
Hybridization between human races shows that the encounter between Neanderthals and Homo sapiens was no accident.
The interbreeding of Homo sapiens in Eurasia and Africa is obviously an effective proof of the expansion of the activity range of Homo sapiens.
And researchers believe that the reason why modern Homo sapiens have Neanderthal genes in genes:
may be the result of modern humans' detour to Africa in the 20,000 years after they mated with Neanderthals in Europe and Asia.
Human race hybridization From the evolution of species to , looking at , it may have brought an additional advantage.
Homo sapiens live in more groups than Neanderthals. In other words, homo sapiens race is larger.
This reduces the population loss caused by inbreeding, and the overall health of the population is better.
In further evolutionary competition, the developed brain of Homo sapiens has brought more advantageous competitiveness.
Research shows that although Neanderthals have higher brain capacity than Homo sapiens, their intelligence is not as good as Homo sapiens.
Excellent governance helped our ancestors create more sophisticated weapons , such as spears that could be thrown.
In contrast, although Homo erectus can also use tools and has used hand axes for more than 1 million years, they are far from as sophisticated as Homo sapiens weapons.
Eventually in the competition of species, Homo erectus disappeared 30,000 years ago.
Darts, arrows, and throwable spears are all combat advantages possessed by Homo sapiens that Neanderthals did not possess.
Homo sapiens leaving Africa is a key node . The strong creative ability and survival ability have brought more racial advantages to homo sapiens.
also accelerated the Sixth Great Extinction, which is still ongoing today.
The migration activities of Homo sapiens, uncontrolled hunting, and agricultural development, etc., have resulted in population growth.
Further population growth brought about demand for resources which caused Homo sapiens to begin to drive away other human races and fight with them .
And after the initial formation of civilization, changes in language and social structure gave Homo sapiens a stronger competitive ability.
Among the two hypotheses of Homo sapiens civilization ( cultural intelligence and social brain ), Homo sapiens can achieve today's achievements inseparable from the creation of civilization and the construction of society.
This has never been shown in other human races. The development of intelligence further optimized the structure of the Homo sapiens race and helped Homo sapiens win in the subsequent race wars.
The changes in the environment cannot be ignored. The Ice Age itself caused the disappearance of many human races.
Only Homo erectus, Neanderthals, Homo sapiens, etc. could effectively survive this period. But Homo sapiens has the advantage of having a larger population and more abundant resources.
In the end, in the game of evolution and elimination, Homo sapiens won the final victory , and other human races were ruthlessly eliminated and eventually became the remains of history.
In just tens of thousands of years, human civilization has reached today, and Homo sapiens is once again facing a new test.
