Number

Name

Date

Neanderthal
Fossils
3 ½ million years ago
Walked upright
8 million years ago
Himalayas developed
Climate change
Less forest =Upright
Why did walking upright give students a competitive advantage?
Gave them more energy
Leads to more change of survival / 3000 generations ago ancestor lived at same time as Neanderthal
60000 first generation that left Africa
Fossil bones and relics key to past imagine what it is like to travel back in time
All fossils would fit in back in car
3 ½ million years into past
300,000 generations ago
Australopithecus Afarensis
·  Nesting in the trees
·  “Lucy”
·  Lives in a troop/ there are rival troops/ territory like modern chimp-10 square miles
·  Stand and walk on 2 legs- walk upright
·  Could live 50 years
Why would apes walk upright on two legs?
8 million years ago ancestors in forest used both hands and feet to get around
Dramatic change in landscapes- beneath the sea ocean floor is expanding shifting continents
Himalayas rose up cause monsoons making more dry air in Africa so Rain Forests retreat and Great Rift Valley develops
Land more sparsely treed therefor they have to spend more time on ground.
See farther- but not safer from predators
In the natural world sex and raising babies important- extra energy important. Energy saved might enable more babies.
More babies =species survival
Australapithicus Afarensis lived in east Africa. As climate changed as a result of the upthrust of the Himalayas which lead to drier conditions and the reduction of rain forests and the development of the savanah. They started to walk upright and this was an advantage. Saving energy by walking upright meant that they could use their energy for other things.

Documentary:Walking with the cavemen Part one

Walking with the cavemen: Part two

2 million years ago
many species of apemen
one species Paranthropus Boisei like modern gorilla
one dominant male mates with the females
one senior females
competition from outsider wanting to join the group
must be accepted by dominant male and other females
Homo Habilis
animals sabre tooth
many ape men: Habilis, Rudolphensis, Boisei
many strategies for survival which one is our ancestor
Why are there so many ape men that walk upright?
·  fault of the sun
·  the tilt on its axis got colder poles iced up trapped water so the earth got drier
·  rainforest died out
·  clumps of trees left
·  new species develop like grass
·  new species developed to eat the new plants
·  lots of food of different types led to different ape species
Boisei adapt to eat tough vegetation like roots of reeds
strong teeth and jaws
new female to troop challenge for dominant male
Boisei eat termites- uses stick to get them
Habilis harder time in dry times
tries a raid on another troop
don’t have same teeth and jaw can’t eat the hard vegetation
became inquisitive scavengers finding food difficult have to spend lots of time looking for food. Need luck.
Investigate mysteries like vultures circling- why?
They’ve spotted food
Habilis eat meat taken from other predators
Need to be careful they’re not still around (Lion got the dominant male)
compete with other ape men Rudolphensis (very similar) fight for food
When rain comes Boisei make a display -not good at making shelters
Habilis “Jack of all Trades”
Boisei “master of one” okay as long as the environment doesn’t change
Over the next few hundred thousand years environment changes and Boisei cant adapt
New female joins Boisei troop
Trouble with being a specialist is that you get left behind
So they eventually die out leaving only fossilized bones.
Habilis scavenging lifestyle makes them quick-witted and successful
Real breakthrough- first creatures to make stone tools MAKE STONE TOOLS
Eating meat gave them bigger brains ½ again as big as Boisei
Smarter –work as team to scare off the lion (that killed of the leader in earlier times)
Can get one meal from the carcass-bone marrow- very nutritious
Tools enabled them to get food
So does this enable Habilis to become the dominant apeman in Africa?
New Apeman species arrive in East Africa Homo Ergaster.