Les adaptacions que ens han fet humans. Morfologia

Authors

  • David M. Alba Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona
  • Sergio Almécija American Museum of Natural History

Keywords:

evolució humana, homininis, paleoantropologia, adaptació, anatomia comparada.

Abstract

Humans share many morphological features with living great apes but also display unique characteristics related to habitual bipedalism, manipulation, diet, cognition, and sociosexual behavior. Darwin inferred that all these features were interrelated but could not determine their order of appearance. Currently, molecular data indicate that humans and chimpanzees diverged approximately 9–7 million years ago. However, it is impossible to reconstruct their last common ancestor without the aid of the fossil record. Available evidence suggests that it was arboreal and possessed an orthograde body plan, human-like hand proportions, and chimpanzee-like intelligence and culture. The earliest adaptations of the human lineage are related to bipedalism, manipulation, and a reduction of sexual dimorphism. However, most adaptations to habitual bipedalism do not appear until later in australopiths. It is not until the origin of Homo that most adaptations of extant humans appear, being related to habitual stone tool use and tool making, meat consumption, and more advanced cognition.

Keywords: human evolution, hominins, paleoanthropology, adaptation, comparative anatomy.

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