Humans' Ecological Flexibility Key to Global Migration
New study explains ancient humans' adaptability in extreme environments before global migration.
Humans are the only animal that lives in virtually every possible environment, from rainforests to deserts to tundra.
This adaptability is a skill that long predates the modern age.
According to a new study published Wednesday in Nature, ancient Homo sapiens developed the flexibility to survive by finding food and other resources in a wide variety of difficult habitats before they dispersed from Africa about 50,000 years ago.
Our species first evolved in Africa around 300,000 years ago.
While prior fossil finds show some groups made early forays outside the continent, lasting human settlements in other parts of the world didn’t happen until a series of migrations around 50,000 years ago.
The new research helps explain why humans were ready to expand across the world way back when, but it doesn’t answer the lasting question of why only our species remains today.
This adaptability is a skill that long predates the modern age.
According to a new study published Wednesday in Nature, ancient Homo sapiens developed the flexibility to survive by finding food and other resources in a wide variety of difficult habitats before they dispersed from Africa about 50,000 years ago.
Our species first evolved in Africa around 300,000 years ago.
While prior fossil finds show some groups made early forays outside the continent, lasting human settlements in other parts of the world didn’t happen until a series of migrations around 50,000 years ago.
The new research helps explain why humans were ready to expand across the world way back when, but it doesn’t answer the lasting question of why only our species remains today.
