by Richard Peacock
Greetings science fans! This is your old pal, Richard Peacock. You may remember me from such educational science poems as O Platypus! My Platypus! and, Sentencing the Heretic. But today I'd like to take a more serious, less rhyming look at the cool world of science in a new series I'm calling Science Rocks. And this week is a double-first: the first part of my multipart sub-series, Get to Know a Hominid. Enjoy!
Get to Know a Hominid - Part I - Homo habilis
Whether you believe that man evolved from apes, or that the giant flying ape god Bananas deposited humans on this planet nearly 300 years ago, there's no denying that Homo habilis was our coolest hominid ancestor.
H. habilis lived around 2 million years ago in what is now East Africa. He was shorter than us, had disproportionately long arms, and probably couldn't grasp our sophisticated sense of humor. In short, dear reader, he was a dumb-dumb. Or at least, he would certainly be classified as such by our standards, seeing that his brain was only half the size of ours.
And yet, H. habilis was the first hominid to make and use stone tools, hence his Latin name, "Handy Man," and his college nickname, "The Dudestir." But even though The Dudestir could make crude stone weapons (mostly out of flint stone... hey... The Flintstones... I just got it!), he was by no means a master hunter, and instead used his tools for scavenging and making crafts to sell at county fairs.
It has long been believed that H. habilis is a direct ancestor of H. erectus, which in turn is a direct ancestor of us. But findings in 2007 suggested that H. erectus instead shares a common link with H. habilis, and there is not a direct lineage. In fact, the two species co-existed for a time, and might have even fucked!*
Homo habilis may have been an ape-like dumb-dumb, but he was our ape-like dumb-dumb. So the next time you are at the zoo, and you happen to wander past the ape exhibit, don't just throw rocks and laugh. Instead, remember that our link with these gentle creatures is far stronger than you may have previously thought. Then throw the rocks. Science rocks.
Further insight: Wikipedia
*(But probably not)
Science Rocks is written by Richard Peacock, inventor of the communication satellite. He now lives in Sri Lanka where he ponders the riddles of this, and other worlds. Email him at richard@amateurscientist.org.
Get to Know a Hominid - Part I - Homo habilis
Whether you believe that man evolved from apes, or that the giant flying ape god Bananas deposited humans on this planet nearly 300 years ago, there's no denying that Homo habilis was our coolest hominid ancestor.
H. habilis lived around 2 million years ago in what is now East Africa. He was shorter than us, had disproportionately long arms, and probably couldn't grasp our sophisticated sense of humor. In short, dear reader, he was a dumb-dumb. Or at least, he would certainly be classified as such by our standards, seeing that his brain was only half the size of ours.
And yet, H. habilis was the first hominid to make and use stone tools, hence his Latin name, "Handy Man," and his college nickname, "The Dudestir." But even though The Dudestir could make crude stone weapons (mostly out of flint stone... hey... The Flintstones... I just got it!), he was by no means a master hunter, and instead used his tools for scavenging and making crafts to sell at county fairs.
It has long been believed that H. habilis is a direct ancestor of H. erectus, which in turn is a direct ancestor of us. But findings in 2007 suggested that H. erectus instead shares a common link with H. habilis, and there is not a direct lineage. In fact, the two species co-existed for a time, and might have even fucked!*
Homo habilis may have been an ape-like dumb-dumb, but he was our ape-like dumb-dumb. So the next time you are at the zoo, and you happen to wander past the ape exhibit, don't just throw rocks and laugh. Instead, remember that our link with these gentle creatures is far stronger than you may have previously thought. Then throw the rocks. Science rocks.
Further insight: Wikipedia
*(But probably not)
Science Rocks is written by Richard Peacock, inventor of the communication satellite. He now lives in Sri Lanka where he ponders the riddles of this, and other worlds. Email him at richard@amateurscientist.org.
