Name: Last Ape Standing
Rating: 4.5 (21 reviews)
Author: Chip Walter

Introduction

What’s in it for me? Learn how modern humans evolved over the last seven million years.

No species in the history of the planet has reached anywhere near the levels of dominance that Homo sapiens have. From the Arctic, through the Americas, from Asia to Australia, humans are masters of their environments. How did that happen?

These blinks will transport you back in time seven million years to show you how a group of apes evolved to achieve this level of success.

You’ll discover that we weren’t the only group of humanoids to evolve. You’ll read about other waves of human migration out of Africa that occurred before our own, and how those humanoid species colonized the globe.

You’ll also find out how a mutation in our big toe gave us a crucial advantage for avoiding predators and catching prey. And, finally, you’ll see how the birth of art, about 70,000 years ago, was actually a critical development in human evolution.

Key idea 1 of 7

Mutations in the big toe made it possible for our ancestors to walk upright.

Seven million years ago, the world was in the midst of a massive transformation. Changes in the climate were transforming vast areas of the African rainforest into less densely wooded grasslands known as savannas.

This development hugely impacted the apes living in the changing environment, and presented them with a completely new set of problems.

Like the modern Chimpanzee, the rainforest apes gathered their food from the trees – berries, nuts and fruits – and, as they developed, their big toes would curve so that they could grasp the trees’ trunks and branches. But in the sparsely wooded environment of the savannas, the apes’ nimble climbing ability was no longer essential, as hanging fruit was less prevalent and there were fewer trees to climb.

Another problem was that the threat of predators was much greater in the savannas than it was in the rainforest.

Then evolution intervened.

A genetic mutation occurred in some of the rainforest apes which stopped the big toe from curling during their development. This was a crucial stage in the apes’ evolution. Because a straight big toe can support much more weight than a curled one (our big toes support 30% of our weight) having straight big toes was a vital trait for apes: it enabled our ancestors to walk upright.

But the benefits of having straight big toes don’t end there. It also gave apes the ability to run, jump and change direction swiftly, and to stand tall and survey their surroundings, allowing for a better view of both predators and prey. All of these are crucial attributes for surviving the harsh and challenging savanna environment.

But the mutation of the big toe was just the first step in a series of evolutionary adaptations that enable us humans to live the upright, dynamic lives that we do. Later developments occurred in the neck and pelvic area, the latter of which led to much narrower hips.

Key idea 2 of 7

The change to a meat-based diet helped our early ancestors develop larger brains.

Because primates live in large communities, they need to keep track of all the direct and indirect relationships in their group. For that reason, apes have long had the biggest brains of any animal group. It was this relatively large brain capacity that gave our ancestors their evolutionary advantage.

For the ape, savanna life was challenging enough to force them to use their relatively large brains to their fullest. Indeed, large brains are essential to the acquisition of survival strategies and for effective communication between individuals – and better communication means better collaboration to accomplish shared goals.

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Key idea 3 of 7

Being born sooner and developing later enabled our ancestors to become masters of their environment.

While developing larger brains and the ability to walk upright was clearly advantageous to our ancestors, it also complicated the childbirth process.

As the apes became bipeds, their bodies changed radically. One of the biggest changes was in the pelvic region: in order to increase adeptness at walking and standing upright on two legs, they developed narrower hips.

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Key idea 4 of 7

There were many other species of humanoid in addition to Homo sapiens.

1.9 million years ago, once certain primates had developed the attributes crucial to surviving savanna life, they began to leave Africa and spread across the globe.

But these early travellers were not our direct ancestors. Rather, they were another species of humanoid: Homo erectus.

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Key idea 5 of 7

Modern humans’ closest ancestor was the Neanderthal, and our common ancestor lived 250,000 years ago.

In addition to the other early humanoid species was Homo heidelbergensis – the most likely common ancestor of both Homo sapiens and Homo neanderthalis (i.e. Neanderthals).

Those Homo heidelbergensis that migrated from Africa to Europe evolved into Neanderthals. Stockier and stronger than other humanoids – like Homo erectus – their more compact bodies meant that they were less exposed to the cold, harsh European climate, and thus better suited than other types.

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Key idea 6 of 7

The ability to think symbolically allowed Homo sapiens to become the dominant species on earth.

Approximately 70,000 years ago, Homo sapiens were on the brink of extinction.

An ice age and a “volcanic winter” (caused by the ash from a huge volcano eruption blocking the sun) made life incredibly hard. As a result, the population of Homo sapiens dwindled to an estimated 10,000 individuals.

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Key idea 7 of 7

In a relatively short period, Homo sapiens spread across the whole globe as other humanoids died out.

From the moment that Homo sapiens first journeyed out of Africa, it didn’t take them long to reach all four corners of the globe.

67,000 years ago they reached China. 40,000 years ago they reached Europe one way and Australia the other. Finally, 20,000 years ago our ancestors crossed a land bridge between Russia and Alaska, and, 13,000 years ago, reached South America.

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Last Ape Standing summary