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Divergence of Chimp and Human ancestors earlier than thought? (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/4991470.stm)


The origin of man is probably my favourite question. What shaped us and how we diverged from the other apes is something I've pondered long and hard over many a beer.

So you can imagine my surprise in discovering a brief but reasonably well written account of a story from the prestigious journal Nature which states that our divergence from chimpanzee's may have occured less than 5.4 million years ago. Previously it was thought to be 10 million years ago although its true some estimates had put it at around 5 million.

That figure is an eyeblink in the vast history of life on earth. I'm convinced that only some drastic change in the environment could possibly account for our speedy evolution. Many theories have been put forward and its probably a mix of all of them. The Savannah hypothesis is certainly a part of it but that couldn't be what started us on the path to becoming modern humans.

I've read about neoteny and that might explain the process but not the driving force. If I was to gamble money on it I'd bet on the Aquatic Ape Theory. Still not mainstream enough for conservative scientists but it eloquently fits the gap nicely. We share much in common with semi-aquatic mammals and its quite common for various species to return to a watery environment for source of sustenance and even return again to the land as fully terrestrial creatures later on.

The cooling of the Earth, perhaps instigated by the rise of the Tibetan plateau and the subsequent lowering of CO2 levels, resulted in the retreat of African forests so that lighter forests and grasslands became common. In this habitat, a bipedal ape would have found ideal conditions to thrive.

As the earth's violent geology continued to change during millions of years, the apes were displaced and possibly migrated to a land of different geology and a climate coupled with the exposure to new food sources and bacterial interaction,. they mutated which resulted in the evolution of that particular species!!