How did apes become adults?

About 65 million years ago, a meteorite with a width of about 16 km hit the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico today, causing great disaster. At that time, two-thirds of the animal species on the earth, including dinosaurs, were extinct, and the golden age of reptiles ended. Primitive mammals survived disasters for a long time and then evolved rapidly.

About 50 million years ago, primates rapidly evolved radially, and they differentiated from lower primates (such as lemurs and tarsiers) to higher primates (such as monkeys, golden monkeys, baboons and apes).

Note: The "Shu Ape" in China is even older than the early higher primate apes, and basically belongs to the early primitive monkeys. In other words, the so-called "Shu ape" is actually a monkey, which is far from the origin of human beings. If "Shu ape" is the origin of monkeys, it is similar.

About 25 million years ago, monkeys began to evolve into apes, and primitive apes appeared, and gradually separated from monkeys. At this time, it is not entirely a human category.

Ancient apes first appeared in eastern and southern Africa, and gradually evolved from primitive apes, which are divided into lower apes (such as gibbons), higher apes (such as orangutans) and ancient apes. About10.2 billion years ago, crustal movement formed a rift valley on the land in eastern Africa, which divided Africa into two independent animal systems. The western part of the rift valley is still thick and humid bushes. In order to adapt to the little changed environment, apes are destined to stay in the ape stage, such as gorillas, and have not made much changes to coordinate. Due to crustal changes in the eastern part of the rift valley, rainfall gradually decreased, forest land disappeared and grasslands appeared. Today, most of the ancestors of apes are extinct, and a small number of apes who used to climb have adapted to the new environment, learned to move on the ground and live in an open environment, forming a unique evolutionary model and avoiding the crisis of extinction. About 6 million years ago, a large primate appeared, barely landing on both feet and assisted by both hands.

1). Australopithecus, about 6 million years ago, is recognized as the earliest ancestor of mankind in modern times, that is, the origin of mankind. It first appeared in the southern part of the African continent and was the earliest ape-like animal. Since then, primitive humans have gradually separated from apes.

2).Homohabilis was about 1.5 million years ago to 2.5 million years ago. One of the Australopithecus evolved into a homo habilis, which first appeared on the east coast of Africa. An able person is a person who can make tools, which is the so-called early apes. It is the earliest animal of mankind. The paleolithic age began; After hundreds of thousands of years of evolution, homo habilis was finally replaced by a new human species: Homo erectus. Homo habilis and its descendants Homo erectus existed for some time.

3) Homo erectus first appeared in Africa about 200,000 to 2 million years ago, the so-called late apes. They knew how to use fire and began to use symbols and basic languages. About 6.5438 million years ago, with the arrival of the Ice Age, Africa began to grassland, and Homo erectus had to start to migrate and expand all over the world, distributed in Europe, Asia and Africa (Heidelberg people and Beijingers belonged to Homo erectus). Note: At this time, the time for human beings to leave Africa is 1. About 800,000 years ago, Homo erectus came to Spain today and became the earliest European. About 200,000 years ago, Homo erectus in Europe, Asia and Africa gradually disappeared and was replaced by a new human species from Africa: Homo sapiens.

4). Humans

Early Homo sapiens (about 30,000-250,000 years) originated in Africa in the middle Paleolithic period, and then spread to the middle and low latitudes of Europe, Asia and Africa (except America). This is the second time that mankind has walked out of Africa. Dali people, Maba people, Dingcun people, Xu Jiayao people and Neanderthals all belong to early Homo sapiens. After Homo erectus walked out of Africa, it was in Europe about 600 thousand years ago. The Heidelberg people evolved Neanderthals about 300,000 years ago, mainly distributed in Europe and the Middle and Near East. Neanderthals who independently evolved into early Homo sapiens later met the early Homo sapiens who walked out of Africa for the second time and the late Homo sapiens who walked out of Africa for the third time, and they lived together for a period of time. With the arrival of late Homo sapiens who went out of Africa for the third time, early Homo sapiens (including early Homo sapiens who went out of Africa for the second time and Neanderthals who independently evolved into early Homo sapiens) failed in the competition for survival. About 60 thousand years ago, with the arrival of the ice age, the living environment became more and more difficult. Finally, about 30 thousand years ago, all early Homo sapiens were eliminated and extinct.

Late Homo sapiens is about 1000 to 50000 years old, which is the so-called ancestor of modern people (cavemen, Hetao people, Liujiang people, Qilinshan people and intelligent people belong to late Homo sapiens). Later, they expanded to five continents, including high latitudes, which was the third time that mankind went out of Africa. At this time, art appeared. It is possible to make a fire artificially.

Attachment 1).

1987, based on the study of mitochondrial DNA, the famous "Eve Hypothesis" was put forward, that is, the mitochondria of all people on earth were handed down by the same woman in Africa about 200,000 years ago, and her descendants left Africa for Eurasia about130,000 years ago.

1990, the study of mitochondrial DNA(mtDNA) found that women's mitochondrial DNA is the same regardless of black people, red people, yellow people and white people, which proved that modern people came from an ancestor of Homo sapiens and were determined to be African women according to archaeological molecular biology. Then, according to the comprehensive calculation of female mitochondrial DNA, male Y chromosome gene and ape DNA, the more scientific and credible age of Homo sapiens ancestors is about 50,000 to 654.38+ 10,000 years ago. Breeding path: Africa-> Asia-> Europe-> Africa; America.

Note: In the process of fertilization, mitochondria in individual cells can be considered as only from the mother, because there are many mitochondria in egg cells and few mitochondria in sperm. Mitochondrial DNA can be used to study maternal inheritance.

Annex 2).

1997, according to the research and analysis of mitochondrial DNA, it is confirmed that Neanderthals do not belong to the evolutionary path of modern human beings, that is, Neanderthals are another branch of human beings and have nothing to do with the ancestors of existing human beings. Neanderthals, a branch of human beings, were eliminated by new human species from Africa about 30 thousand years ago and eventually disappeared completely.

Annex 3).

The study of Y chromosome in genetics proves that modern people in East Asia have the same African ancestry. About 50,000 years ago, the earliest Homo sapiens who left Africa entered the south of East Asia, and then gradually moved northward in the next tens of thousands of years, covering Chinese mainland, North China and Siberia. In other words, the ancestors of China people entered the south of China from Southeast Asia, and then crossed the Yangtze River into the north. Another group of African Homo sapiens gradually entered the east of the Pacific Islands from Southeast Asia. Then,

About 8,500 years ago, Yangshao culture and Hemudu culture in China sprouted. Matriarchal clan commune. Early Neolithic period. The legendary era of China and Huang San.

About 5000 years ago, the patriarchal commune, the legend of the five emperors in the late Neolithic period and China, the Egyptian pyramids appeared.

About 4000 years ago, the first dynasty in the history of China-Xia appeared.

Note: Y chromosome is the sex chromosome in 23 pairs of human chromosomes, which is exclusive to men, so it can only be passed down from generation to generation, and can be used to study paternal inheritance, such as the inheritance of surnames.

Annex 4).

In 2003, the comparative analysis of the genes of Siberian and American Indians by American and British scientists showed that:

1).90% of Central American Indians and 50% of North American Indians come from the same father. Breeding path: Siberia and Northeast Asia-> Continental Bridge Crossing Bering Strait->; At this time, in Alaska, among a group of Siberian people from Northeast Asia, the Y chromosome of a Siberian germ cell just changed, named "M242", which happened about 18000 years ago (at this time, it was the middle and late period of the latest ice age, and the sea level moved down, making the Bering Strait connecting Siberia and Alaska accessible). In other words, Siberia, the ancestor of American Indians, first entered America not earlier than 65438.

2) Shortly thereafter, hundreds or thousands of years later, another group of Northeast Asians also came to Alaska, and their descendants multiplied to form the other half of American Indians; But I don't know why I stopped in North America and didn't continue to migrate south.

Annex 5).

Central Asia is the region with the highest genetic diversity in Eurasia population. Among all the Eurasian human groups studied, Central Asia is the oldest human group in Eurasia, and it has the highest genetic diversity, especially in Uzbekistan.

Central Asia is the ancestor of human groups in Siberia, America and parts of Europe. This area is the birthplace of two large-scale immigration waves. After the Central Asian human groups moved northward to Siberia, one moved eastward to America and the other moved westward to Europe. The present human groups in Europe are basically composed of two periods: the late Paleolithic period (about 45,000 years ago) and the early Neolithic period (about 654.38+0,000 years ago).

Annex 6).

On China's Theory of Multi-regional Evolution.

The so-called multi-regional evolution theory, that is, since Homo erectus spread from Africa to other continents in the world 2 million years ago, it evolved independently into modern Africans, Asians, Oceania and Europeans, during which there was a little gene exchange between regions.

For China, after East African Homo erectus entered China, China hominids continued to evolve, accompanied by a small amount of hybridization with foreigners, namely: Homo erectus in Beijing (basically independent evolution) → Homo sapiens in early Beijing (basically independent evolution) → Homo sapiens in modern China. In other words, Homo erectus was an early Homo sapiens from Africa, but it was not the second time that he left Africa, and

But at present, the results of human archaeology and modern genetic research show that early Homo sapiens in China has been extinct and completely replaced by late Homo sapiens immigrants. On the most important archaeological fossil evidence, there were fossil faults in East Asia (including China) 400-65438+ 10,000 years ago, and the fault time was roughly consistent with the Quaternary Ice Age. That is to say, early Homo sapiens in China had a recent ice age (about 75,000 years ago, a large-scale volcanic eruption occurred on Sumatra Island, which led the world to enter the ice age about 67,000 years ago), which made it difficult for most species in East Asia, including China, to survive due to bad weather.

Therefore, the ancestors of modern China people were late Homo sapiens from Africa. They entered China from south to north through Southeast Asia in the middle and late Ice Age.

There is no basis for the theory that China people are born and bred.

In other words, the Neanderthals in Beijing were not locals at all, but immigrant foreigners from Africa.

Annex 7).

Special case: The analysis of mitochondrial DNA extracted from Australian human remains about 60,000 years ago shows that it has no genetic relationship with the ancient DNA of early modern humans found in other parts of the world, which is considered to have originated in Africa. This shows that the evolutionary route of early modern people in Australia did not come from Africa.

Note: Homo sapiens is divided into four major races. China people, East Asians and American Indians all belong to the yellow race, also known as Mongolian race; Europe, North Africa and South Asia are white (Europa); Africa is black; Australia is brown (Australian).

Annex 8).

It is not the first time that mankind has walked out of Africa.

Some people (Homo erectus) walked out of Africa at least 400,000 to 800,000 years ago.

According to the estimation of mitochondria and Y chromosome, most humans (Homo sapiens) walked out of Africa from 80,000 years to 6,543.8+0.5 million years ago.

Since then, there have been several trends of people returning to Africa (probably influenced by the global ice age).

And then further expand (with the end of the ice age, affected by the gradual warming of the climate)

Subsequently, the late homo sapiens groups from Africa merged with each other to form the modern world population.

Appendix 9). human population

About 6.5438 million years ago, the global population was about 500,000.

About 70,000 years ago, during the recent ice age, the population dropped to only about 20,000-30,000 due to the harsh environment and difficult survival.

About 1. 1 ten thousand years ago, the ice age ended and the climate became warmer. During the Noah's ark flood, the global population was about 1 10,000.

About 50,000 years ago, the global population was about 3 million.

About 1 10,000 years ago, the global population was about 5 million.

About 7000 years ago, the global population was about 30 million.

About 3000 years ago, the global population was about 1 100 million.