Reflection #4

I would have to say honestly, that before reading any of these articles, evolution seemed like something absurd. The idea that us humans come from monkeys sounded like something out of a comic book or some kind of joke. After reading these articles they somewhat expanded my thoughts and made me a little bit more open minded to new ideas and theories of just how we came upon this planet. Even though the theory of evolution does in some senses go against my religious beliefs, it makes sense. There is a lot of scientific-al data and research to back up the idea that humans evolved from monkeys. Reading these articles such as “Lucy” and “African Eve” and looking through the large database of pictures, I found out many things. Lucy, the Australopithicus afarensis, was found in 1874. Even though Lucy was only about 3 feet and 8 inches tall, and she was classified as an “ape”, Lucy had human characteristics. Lucy walked upright just like us humans. Her bi-pedalism lead to what we would consider human beings and human intelligence. The first humans which were Homo Habillis were small in height and had longer arms than legs, more like an ape. Afterwards, there was the Homo Erectus, which had a much bigger brain than Homo Habillis. This species had long, straight legs and walked. Just by looking at the skull of this species, scientist estimated it had a brain of about 1000 cubic centimeters. Homo Erectus was also much taller than Homo Habillis. It is also known that this species knew how to talk. An example of the Homo Erectus is the “Turkana Boy” which is an almost complete skeleton of a young boy. The boy was only 11 or 12 and he was already 5’2. He also had a large brain like us humans today. Finally, we are introduced into the Homo Sapiens which first existed 600,000 years ago. This species was short, thick and strong. They’re skulls were thick and they actually had brains larger than those of humans today. Studies conducted in 1987, show that mitochondrial DNA from humans in places all over the world indicate that we all originated from a Homo Sapien ancestor in Africa. I find it pretty amazing how over the years the structure and mental capacities of these species have transformed. Evolution transformed this species from short monkeys to the humans we are today. Over the years, the species gained skills such as talking, walking upright, and having larger brains. Even though I still do not fully agree 100% with the idea of evolution, I think it is quite interesting.