Which species will it be?

by Keshi Taryan-Kigel

The Race to Super Hominid

The Frontrunner

2.2 to 1.6 million years BCE

2.2 to 1.0 million years BCE

3.0 to 2.0 million years BCE

What made him so great?

• our direct ancestor• first member of genus

homo• larger brain size• used tools• lived cooperatively

Physical appearance

• brain size at least 650 cc., larger than australopithecines

• Broca’s area found in brain, so H. habilis maybe spoke.

• about 127 cm (5’0”) tall

• about 45 kg (100 lb) in weight

• reduced molars and premolars

• bi-pedal foot structure

Handy man!• first of our ancestors to use

tools: sticks, rocks, etc.

• sharp-edged flakes of stone called Oldowan tools used to cut meat off carcass

• used tools to dig in dry savannah soil for roots, bulbs, tubers

• beginning of technological thought

A Socialite

• men hunted in groups for large prey

• women gathered vegetables while carrying infants

• shared food

• division between male and female roles

• lots of cooperation

Where was this winner discovered?

• H. habilis first discovered in Olduvai Gorge in Tanzania by the Leakeys

• fossils and tools also found in Kenya, Ethiopia, and South Africa

Hey! Are you a cheater?!

• Some scientists used to not believe H. habilis existed as a species because of the wide range of variation in specimens

The unexpected winner!

2 to 0.4 million years BCE

•not as wide-ranging as erectus: only Africa•Not as great an adventurer as “upright man”, who went to Eurasia•didn’t know how to use fire•didn’t make as sophisticated tools as erectus did

Bibliography1. www.mnsu.edu/emuseum/biology/humanevolution/habilis.html

2.www.amnh.org/exhibitions/permanent/humanorigins/history/early.php

3. www.wsu.edu:8001/vwsu/gened/learn-modules/top_longfor/timeline/timeline.html

4. www.talkorigins.org/faqs/homs/species.html

5. http://images.google.com

6. The Cartoon History of the Universe, Volumes 1-7, by Larry Gonick, Broadway Books, New York, 1990.

7. Life, The Science of Biology, 3rd Edition, by Purves, Orians, Heller, W.H. Freeman and Company, 1992.