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New human species identified from Kenya fossils

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Duck

Posted: Aug 9 2012, 12:47 PM

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QUOTE

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-19184370

New human species identified from Kenya fossils

BBC News

Skull of new species of human A new species of human: One of several co-existing in Africa two million years ago

Researchers studying fossils from northern Kenya have identified a new species of human that lived two million years ago.

The discoveries suggests that at least three distinct species of humans co-existed in Africa.

The research adds to a growing body of evidence that runs counter to the popular perception that there was a linear evolution from early primates to modern humans.

The research has been published in the journal Nature.

Anthropologists have discovered three human fossils that are between 1.78 and 1.95 million years old. The specimens are of a face and two jawbones with teeth.
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Nature was developing different human prototypes only one of which, our species, was ultimately successful�

Professor Chris Stringer Natural History Museum, London

The finds back the view that a skull found in 1972 is of a separate species of human, known as Homo rudolfensis. The skull was markedly different to any others from that time. It had a relatively large brain and long flat face.

But for 40 years the skull was the only example of the creature and so it was impossible to say for sure whether the individual was an unusual specimen or a member of a new species.

With the discovery of the three new fossils researchers can say with more certainty that H.rudolfensis really was a separate type of human that existed around two million years ago alongside other species of humans.

For a long time the oldest known human ancestor was thought to be a primitive species, dating back 1.8 million years ago called Homo erectus. They had small heads, prominent brows and stood upright.

But 50 years ago, researchers discovered an even older and more primitive species of human called Homo habilis that may have coexisted with H. erectus. Now it seems H. rudolfensis was around too and raises the distinct possibility that many other species of human also existed at the time.

This find is the latest in a growing body of evidence that challenges the view that our species evolved in a smooth linear progression from our primate ancestors.

Instead, according to Dr Meave Leakey of the Turkana Basin Institute in Nairobi, who led the research the find shows that there was a diversity early on in the evolution of our species.

"Our past was a diverse past," she told BBC News, "our species was evolving in the same way that other species of animals evolved. There was nothing unique about us until we began to make sophisticated stone tools."
March of progress The March of Progress had many dead ends

In other groups of animals many different species evolve, each with new traits, such as plumage, or webbed feet. If the new trait is better suited to the environment then the new species thrives, if not it becomes extinct.

According to Professor Chris Stringer of the Natural History Museum in London, fossil evidence is increasingly suggesting that human evolution followed the same pattern.

"Humans seem to have been evolving in different ways in different regions. It was almost as if nature was developing different human prototypes with different attributes, only one of which, an ancestor of our species, was ultimately successful in evolutionary terms," he said.

According to Dr Leakey, the growing body of evidence to suggest that humans evolved in the same way as other animals shows that "evolution really does work".

"It leads to amazing adaptions and amazing species and we are one of them," she said.

Les

Posted: Aug 9 2012, 01:41 PM

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According to Dr Leakey, the growing body of evidence to suggest that humans evolved in the same way as other animals shows that "evolution really does work".
"It leads to amazing adaptions and amazing species and we are one of them," she said.

Wouldn't that lead to the conclusion that, maybe, intelligent life isn't that unusual? Evolution must be the standard protocol (If that's the right word) for life anywhere in the Universe.

Duck	Posted: Aug 10 2012, 09:42 AM
Advanced Member Group: Members Posts: 4,075 Member No.: 84 Joined: 11-June 09	Not really, just look at our own planet. The most successful species were the Dinosaurs and they managed without progressive intelligence for 160 million years. Life has been here for around 3 billion years and in that time progressive intelligence only reared its ugly head in the last 200 thousand years. The math would point to progressive intelligence being very rare and unusual even given ideal conditions. Progressive intelligence appears to be the rare exception rather than the rule even given ideal conditions.

baldrick69	Posted: Aug 10 2012, 10:01 AM
Member Group: Members Posts: 687 Member No.: 165 Joined: 7-May 10	We don't know how intelligent the three early human species were. Homo erectus had a relatively small brain and so probably wasn't the sharpest tool in the box. It may be the particular combination of early human species encountered in the evolutionary path that led to modern human intelligence.

zombie444	Posted: Aug 10 2012, 11:41 AM
Advanced Member Group: Members1 Posts: 2,020 Member No.: 231 Joined: 15-July 11	It will be interesting to see what this revelation is,in chris carter's forthcoming book'science and the afterlife experience'. Carter reveals how consciousness exists outside the parameters of biological evolution and emerges through the medium of the brain to use the physical world as a springboard for growth.

OMGBanana	Posted: Aug 10 2012, 11:50 AM
Banana Queen! Group: Members Posts: 1,654 Member No.: 122 Joined: 13-March 10	wow, awesome. i wonder what would happen if there was more than one human species alive on earth today.

baldrick69

Posted: Aug 10 2012, 01:19 PM

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QUOTE (OMGBanana @ Aug 10 2012, 11:50 AM)

wow, awesome.

i wonder what would happen if there was more than one human species alive on earth today.

More wars I'd imagine.

Ribs

Posted: Aug 11 2012, 01:31 PM

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QUOTE (baldrick69 @ Aug 10 2012, 01:19 PM)

QUOTE (OMGBanana @ Aug 10 2012, 11:50 AM)

wow, awesome.

i wonder what would happen if there was more than one human species alive on earth today.

More wars I'd imagine.

Would all the countries full of our species unite against the other species or would we all do it individually?

sherry	Posted: Aug 13 2012, 01:06 PM
sherry Group: Admin Posts: 30,690 Member No.: 25 Joined: 2-June 08	That's a good question, Ribs. I wouldn't like to say. We're a volatile lot. Some people even killing their own kids. Sometimes I wonder what hope there is for us. We have a long way to go and to become less selfish.

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