Homo erectus (Top 1)
Unlike all the other animals we have seen before (except for the Triceratops), it is very likely that you have heard of the famous species Homo erectus; however, Homo erectus is quite unknown by popular culture in several aspects that differentiate it from the human being. I invite you to continue reading and discover the secrets of this “human”.
What is Homo erectus?
There is a false belief that Homo erectus appeared as one of the evolutionary stages of the human being (Homo sapiens); however, Homo erectus coexisted with several species of “humans”, some of them were: Homo sapiens (us), Homo neanderthalensis, Homo ergaster, Homo antecessor, etc.
Smarter than Homo sapiens?
Undoubtedly something that characterizes humans is their great intelligence, in some cases it even makes us proud. Fossils of Homo erectus have indicated that it had a cranial volume of between 750 ml and 1,300 ml, rivaling the 1,200 ml cranial volume of Homo sapiens(3). In fact, it is Homo erectus who is credited with the discovery of fire and its applications by using it for cooking.
Another species that “surpassed” H. sapiens was Homo ergaster.
why did it become extinct?
The reason is not very clear. Its extinction could have occurred about 110,000 years ago in Indonesia(1), although the reason is unknown, web pages indicate that the reason could be due to climate changes and “laziness” (I would rather call it “lack of curiosity”) for the elaboration of their tools, which were useful, and to a certain extent indispensable, for Homo sapiens(2), for example, the clothing that helped them resist the glaciations.
Discovery
The first fossil of Homo erectus (Java man) was discovered in Indonesia, at the Trinil site, originally described under the name “Anthropopithecus erectus”. Today, Arthropopithecus is used as a synonym for the genus “Pan”, a genus to which Bonobos and Chimpanzees belong. The scientist in charge of describing the species was “Eugène Dubois” in 1891, he renamed the species Pithecanthropus erectus(4), although it is currently known as “Homo erectus”.
The end of the world due to the inversion of the magnetic poles
Homo erectus lived from 1.8 million years ago to 110 thousand years ago(3), which means that it survived the last inversion of the magnetic poles. Although it seems irrelevant, the truth is that it provides information on the chances of survival of the “modern human being” during the next investment, which today has great technology that will greatly contribute to its survival.
References:
- El Homo Erectus se extinguió hace 110 000 años en Indonesia. (2019, 18 diciembre). El Comercio. Recuperado 4 de marzo de 2022, de https://www.elcomercio.com/tendencias/ciencia/homo-erectus-extincion-indonesia-estudio.html
- Europa Press. (2018, 10 agosto). La pereza contribuyó a la extinción de Homo erectus. Recuperado 4 de marzo de 2022, de https://www.europapress.es/ciencia/ruinas-y-fosiles/noticia-pereza-contribuyo-extincion-homo-erectus-20180810165058.html
- Parker, S. (2016). Evolución Toda la Historia (1.a ed.). BLUME, (pág 541)
- Wood, B. (Ed.). (2011). Wiley-Blackwell encyclopedia of human evolution. John Wiley & Sons.
Note 1: The numbers in parentheses found in the text indicate the reference from which the information was extracted.
Note 2: All images of Cheems and muscular Cheems were made by the author.
