Human evolution might be more “bizarre” than we once thought, according to a new study.
In the past, scientists believed that hominin evolution was largely driven by changes in climate. But now, research from theย University of Cambridgeย has suggested that competition was, in fact, fundamental to hominin evolution.
“We have been ignoring the way competition between species has shaped our own evolutionary tree,” said lead author Dr. Laura van Holstein, a University of Cambridge biological anthropologist from Clare College.
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In other words, it appears as if competition between different Homo species actually drove the evolution of even more Homo speciesโa complete reversal of what we would expect to see based on the evolution of most other vertebrates.
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[The] ability to use technology allowed our ancestors to compete for space and resources across different niches, which is likely what drove their explosive evolution. This superior tool use may have also contributed to the rise of Homo sapiens and the eventual extinction of all other species of Homo.
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“These results show that, although it has been conventionally ignored, competition played an important role in human evolution overall,” van Holstein said. “Perhaps most interestingly, in our own genus it played a role unlike that across any other vertebrate lineage known so far.”
