Once upon a time (the Upper Miocene epoch) in the territories of East Africa and North India lived creatures that may be the evolutionary predecessors of modern people. Subsequently, they spread throughout Asia and Europe. They were dryopithecus.
In this article we will try to answer questions that relate to these creatures: what is driopithecus, period of life, habitat, structural features, and also learn general information about the development of all mankind.
A bit about the history of the Earth's development
Compared to the entire history of human development, the Tertiary period lasted quite a long time (70 - 1 million years ago). Moreover, the importance of this period in the entire history of the Earth, especially in the development of flora and fauna, huge. In those days, there were many changes in the appearance of the entire globe: mountainous regions, bays, rivers and seas appeared, the outlines of almost all continents changed greatly. Mountains arose: Caucasian, Alps, Carpathians, there was an uplift of the central part of Asia(Pamir and Himalayas).
Changes in flora and fauna
At the same time, there was progress in changes in the flora and fauna. The dominance of animals (mammals) appeared. And the most important and significant thing is that at the end of the Tertiary period, the closest ancestors of modern man arose. Among them are driopithecus, whose life span is almost 9 million years.
On the hypotheses of the origin of man
At the very end of the process of the general development of living organisms, man arose. It occupies the highest stage of development. Now this is the only kind of person on Earth - "Homo sapiens" (in other words - "The Homo sapiens").
In general, there are many hypotheses about the origin of people. According to religious concepts, everything, including man, was created by God (Allah) from the soil (wet earth). The sun and earth were first created, then water, soil, moon, stars, and finally animals. Subsequently, Adam appeared, and then his companion Eve. And as a consequence of this, the final stage is the origin of the rest of the people. Subsequently, with the development of science, new views on the question of the origin of man appeared.
For example, Swedish scientist K. Linnaeus (1735) created a system of all existing living organisms. As a result, he identified a person in a detachment of primates (a class of mammals) and gave the name "Sapiens Man".
And the French naturalist J. B. Lamarck was also of the opinion that humans originated from the great ape.
The forerunners of people according to Darwin - driopithecus (life period Miocene).
Life stages of human predecessors and their names
According to modern paleontological research, the earliest human predecessors are primitive mammals (insectivores), which gave rise to the subfamily Parapithecus.
Before we find out who dryopithecus are (their life period), we will give definitions to other subspecies.
The appearance of parapithecus dates back to about 35 million years ago. These are the so-called tree monkeys, from which modern orangutans, gibbons and driopithecus originate.
What is driopithecus? These are semi-arboreal and semi-terrestrial creatures that appeared about 18 million years ago. They gave rise to Australopithecus, modern gorillas and chimpanzees.
Australopithecines, in turn, arose 5 or more million years ago in the steppes of Africa. They already represented highly developed monkeys, moving on 2 hind limbs, but in a half-bent state. Perhaps they gave rise to the so-called Handy Man.
"Handy Man" was formed about 3 million years ago. He is considered the ancestor of the archanthropes. It was at this stage that they turned into a person, since during this period the first primitive tools of labor were made. Archanthropes had certain rudiments of speech, and they could use fire.
Then the Ancient people appeared - Neanderthals (Paleoanthropes).
During this period, there was already a division of labor: women were engaged in processing animal carcasses, collecting edibleplants, and the men were engaged in hunting and made tools for labor and hunting.
And finally, Modern people (or Neoanthropes) - Cro-Magnons. They are representatives of Homo sapiens, who appeared about 50 thousand years ago and lived in tribal communities. They were engaged in agriculture, tamed animals. The beginnings of culture and religion appeared.
Driopithecus: period of life, habitat, structural features
Remains of this species have been found in Miocene and Pliocene deposits. Among them, according to the truth, only some scientists are the ancestors of anthropoid apes and man himself.
They lived in Western Europe (18-9 million years ago). There are corroborating similar finds in East Africa and North India. Both externally and in their behavior, they were very similar to chimpanzees and gorillas, but a little more primitive.
Not many facts have been preserved to accurately judge their habitation and habits. They only approximately give an idea of how driopithecus lived (period of life, habitat, nutrition, etc.). Most likely, they ate mainly various vegetation (wild berries, fruits, herbs), but simply lived on trees.
In their external characteristics and behavior they resemble modern chimpanzees and baboons: their length reached an average of 60 centimeters, and their body weight ranged from 20 to 35 kg. In terms of locomotion, dryopithecus resemble modern gibbons and orangutans.
They are characterized by better development of the upper limbs that have lost theirparticipation in their movement.
There are also features: they had binocular vision and a more developed central nervous system.
The meaning of the word "driopithecus"
The word dryopithecinae ("Dryopithecinae") comes from the Greek "drýs" - a tree and a monkey from "píthekos", that is, monkeys living in trees.
Common signs of animals and humans
Driopithecus is an extinct subfamily of great apes. The very first discovery of this fossil occurred in 1856 in France near Saint-Godan, in deposits aged 15 to 18 million years. Darwin, who knew about this, considered Dryopithecus to be the common ancestor of both humans and anthropomorphic monkeys (Africa) - chimpanzees and gorillas.
The kinship of Dryopithecus with humans is evidenced by the structure of its jaw and teeth, which combine features of both humans and anthropoids. The lower molars in Dryopithecus are very similar in structure to human molars, and at the same time, strongly developed fangs and the presence of certain signs are more typical of anthropomorphic monkeys.
Closest to people is the Darwinian Driopithecus, whose life period is the Middle Miocene. Its remains were also found in Austria.
About other modern apes
The "younger brothers" of those distant ancestors of people are hopelessly behind, and remained on the other side of the path of evolutionary development leading from apes to humans. Some of the species of monkeys (end of the Tertiary period) more and more adapted to live only on trees, thereforethey are forever attached to the rainforest.
The development of other highly developed monkeys in the struggle for their existence led to an increase in the size of their body, to their enlargement. Thus, huge meganthropes and gigantepithecus arose. Their remains have been found in southern China. The same type and modern gorillas. Moreover, their strength and size during their life in the forest grew to the detriment and to the detriment of the evolution of their brain.
Conclusion
There are still a lot of controversial questions and answers to them about the emergence and development of man. Perhaps new finds of remains will help answer them.
It should be noted that the remains of a great ape have recently been found even in Georgia. Presumably, this species refers specifically to Driopithecus, and it was given the name Udabnopithecus (after the name of the area Udabno).
