Are we humans simply remodelled apes? Chimps with a tweak? Is the difference between our genomes so minuscule it justifies the argument that our cognition and behaviour must also differ from chimps by barely a whisker? If “chimps are us” should we grant them human rights? Or is this one of the biggest fallacies in the study of evolution? NOT A CHIMP argues that these similarities have been grossly over-exaggerated - we should keep chimps at arm’s length. Are humans cognitively unique after all?
Tuesday, 28 April 2009
A Tiny Hominid With No Place On The Family Tree.
In chapter 3 of NOT A CHIMP - called "Brain-builders", I briefly mention the scientific contretemps over the provenance of Homo floresiensis - the dwarf hominid nicknamed the "hobbit" unearthed in a cave on Flores Island in Indonesia. One theory, still held by a minority of scientists, is that the hobbit is a sample of Homo sapiens who suffered from microcephaly - a failure of the brain to develop to normal size. Now, John Noble Wilford reviews all the latest theories in this excellent piece in the science section of the New York Times. Is it a dwarf human? Is it related to Homo erectus, or, even earlier to Homo habilis or even the Australopithecenes. In which case "out of Africa" experiences began much earlier than is thought in hominin history. Is it a case of reverse evolution? Could it even mean that early hominins - more than 3 million years ago, trekked out of Africa only to return? Wilford chews it all over.
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