Common ancestor for both humans and chimps: Expert
Existing theory is wrong, says evolution expert Professor Robin Crompton
Humans may not have evolved from knuckle-dragging apes after all, claims a leading expert in human evolution.
The famous ‘ascent of man’ image showing humankind’s evolution may actually be the wrong way round, says Professor Robin Crompton.
Speaking at the British Science Festival in Swansea, the scientist outlined his theory that humans, apes and chimpanzees evolved from a common ancestor that walked upright and lived in the trees.
This suggests that it was chimps that evolved to move around on all four limbs, while humans stuck to two, turning the traditional Darwinian theory on its head, reports The Independent
‘Chimpanzees and humans are both descended from something more like living humans than living chimpanzees – however uncomfortable that may be to us,’ said Professor Crompton at the science festival, reports The Independent.
The expert even suggested that modern humans are not very different from our ancestors and that humans could easily return to the trees ‘if we choose to go up there – and take our shoes off ’.
The radical theory is partly based on the examination of a 3.7-million-year-old fossilised skel- eton of an Australopithecus hominid - an early type of human.
Nicknamed ‘Little Foot’, the skeleton is the most complete Australopithecus specimen found so far and was discovered in South Africa in the 1990s, but not dated until last year.
It is the same species as the famous Lucy, but while Lucy was just 1.1m tall, the South African fossil is more similar in size to a modern Western woman. A recent study that claims to have solved the mystery of how Lucy died, concluded that she fell out of a tree.
Researchers at the University of Texas reasoned that this was because she was not used to climbing in the trees as she walked on two feet.
Dr Crompton disputes this claim, saying that there is plenty of evidence to suggest that chimpanzees regularly fall from trees, sometimes seriously injuring themselves.
The evolution expert was the first to suggest that Lucy walked upright, based on computer modelling.
He believes that the same modelling technique will prove that Little Foot walked in the same way, suggested that the distant human ancestor walked upright but lived in the trees.
For many humans, with our big brains and advanced technology, it is tempting to believe that our species has reached the peak of its evolutionary development.
But the natural forces of evolution continue to shape humanity despite the power we have to manipulate the world around us, according to a new study.
Researchers have provided genetic evidence that suggests that natural selection continues to drive human evolution.
Previous research suggested that humans ceased evolving around 40,000 years ago.
However, more recent studies contradict this, showing that traits such as malaria resistance and high-altitude adaptation in humans have evolved relatively recently.