I strongly believe that evolution is an essential part of our lives. It is typically brought on throughout a large amount of time and can be created by things like environmental changes. Humans have  changed quite a bit over time since beginning as other species; including our full development of bipedalism and our larger brains but also have learned how to make tools, create art and to problem solve better than of our fore ancestors. One example being the evolution of Homo floresiensis. Homo floresiensis is a regional archaic that is from the small island of Flores, Indonesia and lived in the time of about 100,000 to 50,000 years ago. Scientists believe they must have had to walk across continents, or have traveled by water if there was still land mass due to their secluded island. They stand about 3 feet tall, which is very similar to the australopithecines Lucy. They also shared the common trait of having very small brains. Surviving on this island with such a small brain seems like it would have been struggle, However, they thrived enough to gain skills to be self-sufficient.

When Paleoanthropologists discovered uncovered fossil remains for studying, they were able to find many things out about their environment. The neanderthals found in specific had short tibias and long femurs, which indicated they were living in a cold climate, which plays an incredibly large part on how certain parts of the body evolved over time and grew each generation based on what was favorable. Another fact they found about these neanderthals is their uniquely small molars and larger front teeth, which can tell us about the way these groups were living and eating. These features can be compared to modern day humans, therefore connections can be made between genetic similarities between neanderthals and modern humans.

I strongly believe that the biggest factor in evolution is climate and it’s ever changing nature. As our climate grew harsher and colder, the species living on the land had to be able to evolve and adapt. What really shocked me from the lecture was that they actually had larger brains than humans around 1502cc, While humans range from only 1350cc-1400cc. After finishing these lectures, I realized that due to their large brain size, they developed even faster, leaving less time to learn things as children. I think that the large brain is the most important trait that comes from evolution that makes us the modern humans were are today. Without our large brains, we would still be surviving but we wouldn’t be doing as much. For example, cavemen starting to participate in things like art, and forming a sense of community, but would have gotten to see art to what it has been evolved as today.

In conclusion from this week’s lecture, I was very surprised by all of the information we are able to retain just by using fossil records. By assembling simply a few bones, we are able to make assumptions about the functions of certain body parts, which leads to creating an idea of what their daily lives were like before us.