11 Amazing facts about Human Evolution
Human Evolution is the story of Evolution of Science and Technology. Millions of years ago, a certain mutation happened in the very genes of Chimpanzees which changed the fate of the whole planet. From a chemical glitch in the DNA of our ancestors, we humans evolved to become the most brilliant minds created by Mother Nature.
The journey from caves to cities is an epic fable of the rise of Homo sapiens. We built everything we needed on our way to the top of food chain and now even now we are still evolving, getting better or worse is just a matter of question.
From discovery of fire to the invention of Internet, here are a few facts about Human Evolutionary journey, a footprint left by our ancestors.
1. Early human beings left Africa over 1 million years ago:
Homo sapiens left Africa to migrate into Asia and Europe about 80,000 years ago. It is believed that when they left the jungles of Africa, on their way to other continents, they found different beings that looked just like them. To support this fact it is believed that they met the descendants of their primitive human, Homo erectus, left Africa about 1 million years ago who might have met Neanderthals. It is an historic event in the history of Human Evolution when modern humans met their ancestors far-far away in the wild.
2. We Used to be Hobbits:
It has been found that a Hobbit like species used to live about 18,000 years ago. The species is believed to have lived along with pygmy elephants, 10 foot lizards and were about as tall as a 3 year old modern human child.
3. Population Explosion:
It took 100,000 years for the human population to reach 1 billion people. From then it took just 133 years for it to reach 2 billion and another 44 years to double itself. Scientists believe that our total global population may reach 8 billion by 2025.
4. We are part Neanderthal :
Recent studies in genetics by analyzing the bones of Neanderthals have revealed that certain genes of these ancient humans have made their way into the modern ones. This states that the early humans who when migrating from Africa might have mated with the local Neanderthals population.
5. Humans almost went extinct 80,000 years ago:
A mysterious illness, probably Tuberculosis, is thought to have wiped out all but some 2000 of our early ancestors around 80,000 years ago putting us shoulder to shoulder with black rhinos and giant panda on the endangered species list.
6. Humans arrived in Australia 50,000 years ago:
It is a proven fact that humans arrived on the shores of Australia about 50,000 years ago but the question here is “How did they travel that far through the ocean?” Well to support this theory it can be possible that humans built small boats from reeds and sailed through the Indian Ocean to reach all the way to Australia. It is a Paleolithic equivalent to flying to the moon in a tin can.
7. Homo Sapiens have always used fire as a tool:
It is certainly true because Homo sapiens evolved when our ancestors had already learned how to tame fire. It is mind boggling to believe that as a species we have never learned how to live without using tools and fire.
8. Agent Smith was right:
The dark character from the global hit Sci-fi movie “The Matrix”, Agent Smith, was actually right. In the movie he described humans as viruses. There are certain types of viruses called as retroviruses which have altered our genetic codes and moved us towards the path of becoming the modern humans of today. These retroviruses invaded the cells of our ancestors and started altering their genetic codes. Over thousands of years these have become a prominent part of our DNA and separated us from our ancestors by making us who we are.
9. We are actually not Homo Sapiens:
We call ourselves as Homo sapiens but actually modern humans belong to a subset species called Homo Sapiens Sapiens. Well that’s our real identity, wake up!
10 Brown and Blue eyes:
Every human once had just brown eyes. It is believed that only one person had a mutation for blue eyes and spread it across Europe and around the world. If you have blue eyes and you meet someone who has it too then its definitely possible that both of you share a common ancestor!
11. Human Tails:
Every human embryo develops a tail in its nascent stage of life but it eventually dissolves before the birth. The human tail comes from a primitive primate called the dryomomys szalayi, which is an early ancestor of humans and its tail helped it to climb trees.
Science Blurt. Because Everything is Science.
If you love our posts then please Like, Comment and Share!
Happy Learning.
