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Jul 31, 2018 07:16 PM EDT
As the last surviving humans on the planet, there are many reasons to celebrate about Homo sapiens. In particular, a new study says, the adaptability of the species.
Unlike other hominins such as Neanderthals and Homo erectus, Homo sapiens are able to occupy and use a wide range of different, even extreme environments. Scientists say that this ability to roll with the punches could very well be the reason for the survival of the species even as their cousins disappear.
Homo sapiens has flourished in a variety of landscapes
In an article published in the journal Nature Human Behavior researchers from the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Science and Technology Human history and the University of Michigan suggest that Homo sapiens has survived other hominids because of their "unique ecological plasticity."
the first of the genus Homo appeared around 3 million years ago, humans scattered in search of greener pastures. Homo erectus, Homo neanderthalensis, and other members of the genus have crossed Europe and Asia over millennia, but these species have mainly focused on forests and grbadlands.
Meanwhile, homo sapiens flourished in more exotic landscapes. 50,000 years ago. These extreme parameters include palaeoarctic sites and tropical rainforest conditions in Asia, Melanesia and America as well as in the deserts and mountain peaks of Africa and Asia.
There is no evidence that any other species of homonids have lived long
A New Ecological Niche
After retracing the path of Homo sapiens, the The team suggests that the modern human species has developed an entirely new ecological niche as a "generalist specialist". [19659003L'auteurprincipalleDrPatrickRobertbadpliquequ'ilexisteunedichotomieécologiquetraditionnelleentreles"generalists"quiutilisentdifférentesressourcesetviventdansunevariétédeconditionsenvironnementalesetles"specialists"dontlerégimealimentaireetlatoléranceenvironnementalesonttrèslimités[19659011]. However, Homo sapiens provides evidence for "specialized" populations, such as mountain rainforest hunters or palaeoarctic mammoth hunters, exis What these conclusions mean
Although the authors caution that their suggestions remain hypothetical, the new niche of the generalist specialist could stimulate new studies on extreme environments.
It also shows the significance of the environmental factor in the study of early humans.
"[An] The ecological perspective on the origins and nature of our species potentially illuminates the unique The path of Homo sapiens quickly dominated the various continents and environments of the Earth," says Roberts
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