Sentences with phrase «small early hominin»

One idea is that it evolved from a small early hominin species like H. habilis or the even more primitive Australopithecus, so far known only from fossils in Africa.

Not exact matches

They also suggest that sexual dimorphism — the physical distinction between genders, with females typically smaller in mammals — was more prevalent in early hominin species but then steadily ironed out by evolution.

Researchers agree that small - brained hominins in the genus Australopithecus evolved into early Homo between 3 million and 2.5 million years ago, but the Homo fossil trail disappears at the crucial time.

Once early hominins had boosted their metabolism and grown bigger brains, he says, natural selection would have favored not only fatter individuals, but also smaller guts and other energy - saving adaptations, such as cooking and efficient walking.

«This study debunks the one that suggests that until the origin of our own genus, for one reason or another — and the usual explanation is not enough meat in the diet — all early hominins were small - bodied.

Produced using cutting - edge methodology and the largest sample of individual early hominin fossils available, analysis of their results shows that early hominins were generally smaller than previously thought and that the increase in body size occurred not between australopiths and the origins of Homo but later with H. erectus (the first species widely found outside of Africa).

However, to date, the majority of published data on molar enamel thickness of Pliocene and early Pleistocene hominins derive from naturally fractured random surfaces of a small number of specimens.

These highly successful early bipedal hominins such as Ardipithecus ramidus or Australopithecus afarensis, were nevertheless relatively small - brained, with a cranial capacity of about 450cm3 compared with modern humans with over 1,500 cm3.

Yet H. erectus differs from earlier hominins in having relatively smaller teeth, reduced chewing muscles, weaker maximum bite force capabilities, and a relatively smaller gut.