Re: Faster Than A Hyena?

On Feb 22, 4:30 am, pgarr...@xxxxxxxxxxx wrote:
On Feb 22, 12:47 am, "Paul Crowley"





<slkwuoiutiuytciu...@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
<pgarr...@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message

news:b2bb32ab-1853-4dc7-a826-acfdf18f62e3@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

After some research I see there is evidence that early homo (pre-
erectus) did make it out of Africa, and on re-reading Leakey, I see
that all species of homo, including the early/questionable ones, were
runners,

How come, after mastering this
niche, they stopped occupying it?

though the A'piths were not.

So A'piths clearly occupied a different
niche (and different habitats) from later
homo.

How come all hominids before Homo
(as represented by A'piths) went into
extinction -- after so successfully
occupying a distinct niche for a few
million years?

Bad evolutionary theorists -- such
as the savanna types (e.g. Leakey)
and the aquatic nuts --  love to indulge
in promiscuous niche-swapping.  It can
'explain' everything, and avoids all need
for thought.

It seems that they are quite unfamiliar
with all of nature, and the fact that taxa
and species prefer to stick to the same
kind of habitat, and ways of life.   They
have no understanding of  evolution,
nor of the concept of 'evolutionary
niche'.

Paul.

I can relate that as a youth in a rural area, we hunted wild pigs to
castrate them, and did this by running them down, homo erectus style.
It takes a certain intelligence to cope with the hunted animal's
various strategems. So its still an option. However any sensible
person would obviously just lay a trap and save all that unnecessary
energy expenditure.

As to why the A'piths went extinct? Leakey says they were under
pressure from Homo on one side and Baboons on the other. Apparently
they couldn't run, and compared to homo had limited intelligence. It's
interesting that gracile A'piths mostly existed before Homo, with
robust A'piths existing after, though there is some slight overlap.
Perhaps size and power conferred some sort of defense.

As to niche swapping, obviously most species occupy quite stable
niches, but homo is the "first",

First what?

so must have transcended a sequence
of niches quite rapidly,

Transcended niches?

biologically speaking, to "arrive". Its like
the concept of "Punctuated equilibrium", except there were no
equilibrium points.

This is a valid observation. But the observation does not explain
itself.

There do not seem to be any barriers going from
brachiating ape,to a'piths walking on the savanna, to homo habilus
with scavenging and running and stone tools, to erectus with endurance
hunting, to full language and rationality of homo sapiens.

Probably the most difficult step is the evolution of Homo from Apith.
I find the scavenging hypothesis fairly satisfying, as if fills the
criteria of small gradual steps,

It does? How so?

rather then having endurance hunting
appear in a quantum leap.

Intelligence is the thing that enables them to leap. And this is the
result of communal selection.
.

Relevant Pages

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  • Re: Faster Than A Hyena?
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