The Chosen Species: The Long March of Human Evolution

The Chosen Species......Page 2
Contents......Page 6
Acknowledgments......Page 12
Little Lucy......Page 14
Intrepid Paleontologists......Page 15
Part I Children of Africa......Page 20
The Inheritance of Acquired Characteristics......Page 22
Natural Selection......Page 23
The Staircase of Progress......Page 26
The Ecological Definition and Diversity of Primates......Page 30
The Classification of Primates......Page 33
Hominoids, Apes of Our Own Branch......Page 35
History of the Primates......Page 40
The Origin of Species......Page 48
Climate Changes over the Last Few Million Years......Page 49
Paleotemperature Scales......Page 51
Factors in Climate Change......Page 52
Milankovitch Cycles......Page 53
A Climatic Model for Equatorial Africa......Page 56
The Controversial Gas......Page 58
The End of Paradise......Page 59
Molecular Clocks......Page 62
The First Fossil Hominids......Page 64
Change of Habitat......Page 66
East Side Story......Page 70
Dating Fossils......Page 72
The Taung Child......Page 74
Distinguishing Marks......Page 75
The Great Step......Page 79
The Laetoli Footprints......Page 87
The Mystery of Mysteries of Human Evolution......Page 89
Portrait of the Entire Body of an Australopithecine......Page 91
The Emergence and Distribution of Paranthropus......Page 100
The Specialist......Page 107
The First Humans......Page 110
The Stone Cutters......Page 111
The Diversification of Homo......Page 115
Ready for the Great Leap......Page 118
Family Relationships......Page 120
The Science of Relationships......Page 123
The Hominid Tree......Page 125
The Organ of Intelligence......Page 129
Large and Small Brains......Page 130
Weighing Ghosts......Page 133
The Brain Size of Fossil Hominids......Page 136
Surface Area of the Brain......Page 137
The Size of the Intellect......Page 140
Types of Diet......Page 142
Carnivorous and Herbivorous Mammals......Page 145
The Teeth of Primates......Page 147
The Teeth of the First Hominids......Page 149
Size of the Molars and Shape of the Hand......Page 151
Guts and Brain......Page 155
The Rhythm of the Molars......Page 158
Birth and the Newborn......Page 159
Childhood and Adolescence......Page 165
The Unexciting Sex Life of the Female Orangutan......Page 168
Behavior as Adaptation......Page 169
Comparative Sociobiology of Hominoids......Page 171
Natural Selection and Sexual Selection......Page 173
Bipedal and Monogamous from the Beginning?......Page 175
Brain Size and Size of Social Group......Page 182
Summary......Page 184
Part II A New Home......Page 190
Homo erectus and the Settlement of Asia......Page 192
The First Europeans......Page 195
Gran Dolina and the First Europeans......Page 197
Prehistoric Cannibalism......Page 199
Homo antecessor......Page 200
Human Evolution in Europe during the Middle Pleistocene......Page 203
The Pit of Bones......Page 205
The Way They Were......Page 210
Life and Death among the Neanderthals......Page 218
The Beginning and End of the Neanderthals......Page 221
Neanderthals and Modern Humans......Page 225
Two Intelligent Human Species......Page 229
The Levant: A Crossroads......Page 232
To the Easternmost Edge of Asia......Page 235
The African Origin of Homo sapiens......Page 236
A Brilliant Idea......Page 239
The Molecules of Inheritance......Page 241
Black Eve......Page 242
An Adam for Eve......Page 244
The Other Chromosomes......Page 245
Pleistocene Park......Page 246
Fossils and Molecules......Page 248
Standards of Beauty......Page 250
King Solomon’s Ring......Page 252
Language and Brain......Page 254
The Choking Primate......Page 256
The Production of Speech......Page 257
The Fossils Speak......Page 260
Group Selection and the Extinction of the Neanderthals......Page 262
The Crooked Lines of Natural Selection......Page 266
The Action Replay of Life......Page 268
Organization and Chaos......Page 274
The Never-ending Story......Page 277
Bibliography......Page 281
Index......Page 288