How Did Our Ancestors Evolve?

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How Did Our Ancestors Evolve?

DAVID CHRISTIAN: Here we are in Ewha Womans University in Seoul, Korea, and we're talking about human ancestors, the ancestors of you and me.

Every living thing on Earth is descended from a single organism.

Biologists call that organism LUCA, which stands for the "Last Universal Common Ancestor."

LUCA probably lived about four... almost four billion years ago.

What this means, strangely, is that you and bananas share an ancestor.

Now, that ancestor probably lived about 1.5 billion years ago and was an early form of eukaryote, but you and chimps also share a common ancestor.

That ancestor lived much closer to today, a mere seven million years ago, which is just an eye blink in geological time.

Taxonomy is the branch of biology that classifies living organisms by their relationships to each other.

And what taxonomy does is create huge sort of trees of life, systems of classification that show the relationships between all living organisms.

Every species has a place on that tree of life, including us, Homo sapiens.

There's a lot we don't know about our ancestors, but there's also a lot we do know.

And what we know is based mainly on three types of evidence.

The first is the fossil record.

Fossils can tell us a lot about what our ancestors looked like and how they changed over time, but fossils could also tell us a surprising amount about how they lived.

For example, microscopic studies of teeth can tell us what they ate.

Did they eat meat or were they eating leaves or fruit?

And that can tell us quite a lot about how they lived.

Were they hunting, for example?

Or were they just foraging for leaves or just looking for fruit?

We can also use radiometric dating techniques to date fossils so we know when a particular organism lived.

The second type of evidence is genetic dating.

It's based on comparing the DNA or the genes of different species.

Since the 1960s, biologists have discovered that genes... a lot of genes change quite randomly.

Now, what this means is by comparing the genes of two species, you can tell roughly when they shared a common ancestor.

So we can use genetic dating techniques to check out the evidence we get from fossils about dates.

Now, a third type of evidence comes from modern studies of primate societies, particularly the studies of great apes - of gorillas and chimps.

We're very close genetically to the great apes, but it's quite probable that our ancestors evolved more rapidly and changed more from the great apes.

So what this means is that by studying the societies - the social relationships of chimps and gorillas - we can learn a lot about how our ancestors probably lived.

So those are the three crucial forms of evidence we use in studying our evolution.

To study the history of our species let's begin by going back 65 million years to the time when the dinosaurs were wiped out.

After a mass extinction event like this, evolution very often happens very, very fast indeed.

This is because the surviving species tend to experiment with all the new niches that are left empty by the removal of other species.

Now, we know that something like this happened because within ten million years of the disappearance of the dinosaurs, we find a whole range of new mammal species.

This is what biologists call an evolutionary radiation.

We find grass eaters.

We find insect eaters.

Some of them apparently could fly like ancestral bats.

We find some mammals that are moving back into the water like ancestral whales or dolphins.

And we find tree dwellers such as our ancestors, the primates.

Primates live in trees.

Now, if you've ever climbed trees, you'll know the sort of skills you need to climb them without falling out.

First, you need hands that can grip and if your feet can grip too, that's fantastic.

Secondly, you need to be able to see in 3D.

You need stereoscopic vision so that if you leap for a branch, you can find it.

Now what this means is the eyes have to move around to the front of the face.

So primates tend to have flattish faces.

Thirdly, you need big brains.

Now, this is partly to process all that visual information, but it's also partly because a lot of primates seem to have really liked fruit and fruit tend to be harder to find than leaves.

The order of primates includes lemurs, monkeys and apes.

The apes are large, intelligent primates that belong to the superfamily of hominoids.

Somewhat confusingly, there's a family called the hominids, which is smaller, within the hominoid group.

The hominids include the great apes: orangutans, gorillas, two species of chimps, and you and me.

We're so similar to apes that even Linnaeus, the founder of modern taxonomy, reluctantly classified us humans with the great apes.

Darwin agreed and modern genetic studies have shown that they were both right.

If you compare the genes of humans and chimps, you find that about 98% of those genes are identical, and that's why modern biologists are convinced that humans and chimps shared a common ancestor about seven million years ago.

Then our lineages split and our ancestors started walking on two legs.

They became bipedal.

We call them hominines.

Now, frankly, we're really not sure why they became bipedal.

One possibility is that our ancestors lived in Eastern Africa, which was drier, so there were grassy savanna lands rather than forests.

And if you live in savanna lands, then bipedalism is great.

You can travel faster and further.

You can also see further.

You can see your enemies coming.

And also, bipedalism freed the hands to manipulate stones or perhaps even throw them at an enemy.

Can you think of any other possible reasons why our ancestors might have become bipedal?

Then, for six million years, our hominine ancestors flourished.

There may have been 30 or 40 different species at some periods, but today there's only one.

Now, after an evolutionary radiation, this sort of winnowing of species is fairly common as one species that can adapt better than the others becomes a sort of standard model and the others die out.

But it's also possible that our ancestors played a role in eliminating our evolutionary cousins.

One group of species or genus, as the biologists call it, was the Australopithecines or southern apes.

The Australopithecines flourished in Africa between about four million and one million years ago.

Best known of all the Australopithecines is Lucy, an individual whose remains were found in 1974 in the Hadar Valley in Ethiopia by an American paleontologist, Don Johanson.

Lucy had a brain about the size of a chimp's brain and stood about three and a half feet tall.

More similar to us is a species known as Homo habilis, which flourished between about 2.5 and 1.5 million years ago.

They had larger brains than the Australopithecines and they also made stone tools.

The first remains of a Homo habilis were found by the son of the paleontologist Louis Leakey in Olduvai Gorge in the Rift Valley in Africa.

Louis Leakey was absolutely convinced that a crucial, key component of being human was the ability to make tools.

So he immediately thought, "These are humans," and he classified them within the genus Homo using the Latin word for human.

Now, this is his way of saying they are really more or less us.

Do you agree?

Even more similar to us is another group of species known variously as Homo ergaster/erectus.

They first turned up almost two million years ago.

They had larger brains than Homo habilis, and they were almost as tall as us, and they traveled.

You can find the remains of some Homo erectus/ergaster in the suburbs of Beijing.

They survived until about probably 30,000 years ago.

So they lived for a long period of time.

Now, let's think about Homo erectus/ergaster, this group of species.

They were very intelligent, brains almost as large as ours.

They made beautiful stone tools and they traveled into a wide variety of niches, different environments; and yet their stone tools hardly changed over a million years.

Now what do you think?

Should we call them humans?

번역 0%

How Did Our Ancestors Evolve?발음듣기

DAVID CHRISTIAN: Here we are in Ewha Womans University in Seoul, Korea, and we're talking about human ancestors, the ancestors of you and me.발음듣기

Every living thing on Earth is descended from a single organism.발음듣기

Biologists call that organism LUCA, which stands for the "Last Universal Common Ancestor."발음듣기

LUCA probably lived about four... almost four billion years ago.발음듣기

What this means, strangely, is that you and bananas share an ancestor.발음듣기

Now, that ancestor probably lived about 1.5 billion years ago and was an early form of eukaryote, but you and chimps also share a common ancestor.발음듣기

That ancestor lived much closer to today, a mere seven million years ago, which is just an eye blink in geological time.발음듣기

Taxonomy is the branch of biology that classifies living organisms by their relationships to each other.발음듣기

And what taxonomy does is create huge sort of trees of life, systems of classification that show the relationships between all living organisms.발음듣기

Every species has a place on that tree of life, including us, Homo sapiens.발음듣기

There's a lot we don't know about our ancestors, but there's also a lot we do know.발음듣기

And what we know is based mainly on three types of evidence.발음듣기

The first is the fossil record.발음듣기

Fossils can tell us a lot about what our ancestors looked like and how they changed over time, but fossils could also tell us a surprising amount about how they lived.발음듣기

For example, microscopic studies of teeth can tell us what they ate.발음듣기

Did they eat meat or were they eating leaves or fruit?발음듣기

And that can tell us quite a lot about how they lived.발음듣기

Were they hunting, for example?발음듣기

Or were they just foraging for leaves or just looking for fruit?발음듣기

We can also use radiometric dating techniques to date fossils so we know when a particular organism lived.발음듣기

The second type of evidence is genetic dating.발음듣기

It's based on comparing the DNA or the genes of different species.발음듣기

Since the 1960s, biologists have discovered that genes... a lot of genes change quite randomly.발음듣기

Now, what this means is by comparing the genes of two species, you can tell roughly when they shared a common ancestor.발음듣기

So we can use genetic dating techniques to check out the evidence we get from fossils about dates.발음듣기

Now, a third type of evidence comes from modern studies of primate societies, particularly the studies of great apes - of gorillas and chimps.발음듣기

We're very close genetically to the great apes, but it's quite probable that our ancestors evolved more rapidly and changed more from the great apes.발음듣기

So what this means is that by studying the societies - the social relationships of chimps and gorillas - we can learn a lot about how our ancestors probably lived.발음듣기

So those are the three crucial forms of evidence we use in studying our evolution.발음듣기

To study the history of our species let's begin by going back 65 million years to the time when the dinosaurs were wiped out.발음듣기

After a mass extinction event like this, evolution very often happens very, very fast indeed.발음듣기

This is because the surviving species tend to experiment with all the new niches that are left empty by the removal of other species.발음듣기

Now, we know that something like this happened because within ten million years of the disappearance of the dinosaurs, we find a whole range of new mammal species.발음듣기

This is what biologists call an evolutionary radiation.발음듣기

We find grass eaters.발음듣기

We find insect eaters.발음듣기

Some of them apparently could fly like ancestral bats.발음듣기

We find some mammals that are moving back into the water like ancestral whales or dolphins.발음듣기

And we find tree dwellers such as our ancestors, the primates.발음듣기

Primates live in trees.발음듣기

Now, if you've ever climbed trees, you'll know the sort of skills you need to climb them without falling out.발음듣기

First, you need hands that can grip and if your feet can grip too, that's fantastic.발음듣기

Secondly, you need to be able to see in 3D.발음듣기

You need stereoscopic vision so that if you leap for a branch, you can find it.발음듣기

Now what this means is the eyes have to move around to the front of the face.발음듣기

So primates tend to have flattish faces.발음듣기

Thirdly, you need big brains.발음듣기

Now, this is partly to process all that visual information, but it's also partly because a lot of primates seem to have really liked fruit and fruit tend to be harder to find than leaves.발음듣기

The order of primates includes lemurs, monkeys and apes.발음듣기

The apes are large, intelligent primates that belong to the superfamily of hominoids.발음듣기

Somewhat confusingly, there's a family called the hominids, which is smaller, within the hominoid group.발음듣기

The hominids include the great apes: orangutans, gorillas, two species of chimps, and you and me.발음듣기

We're so similar to apes that even Linnaeus, the founder of modern taxonomy, reluctantly classified us humans with the great apes.발음듣기

Darwin agreed and modern genetic studies have shown that they were both right.발음듣기

If you compare the genes of humans and chimps, you find that about 98% of those genes are identical, and that's why modern biologists are convinced that humans and chimps shared a common ancestor about seven million years ago.발음듣기

Then our lineages split and our ancestors started walking on two legs.발음듣기

They became bipedal.발음듣기

We call them hominines.발음듣기

Now, frankly, we're really not sure why they became bipedal.발음듣기

One possibility is that our ancestors lived in Eastern Africa, which was drier, so there were grassy savanna lands rather than forests.발음듣기

And if you live in savanna lands, then bipedalism is great.발음듣기

You can travel faster and further.발음듣기

You can also see further.발음듣기

You can see your enemies coming.발음듣기

And also, bipedalism freed the hands to manipulate stones or perhaps even throw them at an enemy.발음듣기

Can you think of any other possible reasons why our ancestors might have become bipedal?발음듣기

Then, for six million years, our hominine ancestors flourished.발음듣기

There may have been 30 or 40 different species at some periods, but today there's only one.발음듣기

Now, after an evolutionary radiation, this sort of winnowing of species is fairly common as one species that can adapt better than the others becomes a sort of standard model and the others die out.발음듣기

But it's also possible that our ancestors played a role in eliminating our evolutionary cousins.발음듣기

One group of species or genus, as the biologists call it, was the Australopithecines or southern apes.발음듣기

The Australopithecines flourished in Africa between about four million and one million years ago.발음듣기

Best known of all the Australopithecines is Lucy, an individual whose remains were found in 1974 in the Hadar Valley in Ethiopia by an American paleontologist, Don Johanson.발음듣기

Lucy had a brain about the size of a chimp's brain and stood about three and a half feet tall.발음듣기

More similar to us is a species known as Homo habilis, which flourished between about 2.5 and 1.5 million years ago.발음듣기

They had larger brains than the Australopithecines and they also made stone tools.발음듣기

The first remains of a Homo habilis were found by the son of the paleontologist Louis Leakey in Olduvai Gorge in the Rift Valley in Africa.발음듣기

Louis Leakey was absolutely convinced that a crucial, key component of being human was the ability to make tools.발음듣기

So he immediately thought, "These are humans," and he classified them within the genus Homo using the Latin word for human.발음듣기

Now, this is his way of saying they are really more or less us.발음듣기

Do you agree?발음듣기

Even more similar to us is another group of species known variously as Homo ergaster/erectus.발음듣기

They first turned up almost two million years ago.발음듣기

They had larger brains than Homo habilis, and they were almost as tall as us, and they traveled.발음듣기

You can find the remains of some Homo erectus/ergaster in the suburbs of Beijing.발음듣기

They survived until about probably 30,000 years ago.발음듣기

So they lived for a long period of time.발음듣기

Now, let's think about Homo erectus/ergaster, this group of species.발음듣기

They were very intelligent, brains almost as large as ours.발음듣기

They made beautiful stone tools and they traveled into a wide variety of niches, different environments; and yet their stone tools hardly changed over a million years.발음듣기

Now what do you think?발음듣기

Should we call them humans?발음듣기

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