Driopithecus: period of life, habitat and developmental features

Once upon a time (the era of the Upper Miocene), creatures existed in the territories of East Africa and Northern India, possibly the evolutionary predecessors of modern humans. Subsequently they spread across Asia and Europe. These were driopithecines.

In this article, we try to answer questions that concern these creatures: what are the driopithecines, the period of life, the habitat, the features of the structure, and also we learn general information about the development of all mankind.

A little about the history of the Earth's development

Compared with the entire history of human development, the Tertiary period lasted a rather long time (70-1 million litas ago).

And the significance of this period in the entire history of the Earth, especially in the development of the plant and animal world, is enormous. At that time, many changes occurred in the shape of the entire globe: mountainous areas, bays, rivers and seas appeared, the outlines of almost all continents changed dramatically. Mountains appeared: the Caucasus, the Alps, the Carpathians, there was a rise in the central part of Asia (the Pamirs and the Himalayas).

Changes in flora and fauna

Along with this, progress was also in the changes in the flora and fauna. The dominance of animals (mammals) has appeared. And the most important and significant thing is that at the end of the Tertiary period the nearest ancestors of modern man arose . Among them, and driopithecas, 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 a man arose. He occupies the highest stage of development. Now it is the only human species on Earth - "Homo sapiens" (in other words, "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). Originally, the Sun and the Earth were created, then water, soil, moon, stars and, finally, animals. Subsequently, Adam appeared, and then his companion Eva. 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 emerged on the question of the emergence of man.

For example, the Swedish scientist K. Linnaeus (1735) created a system of all existing living organisms. As a result, the person he identified in the detachment of primates (a class of mammals) and gave the name "Homo sapiens".

And the French naturalist JB Lamarck also held opinions about the origin of people from the anthropoid ape.

The predecessors of people on Darwin are the diopithecines (the period of life of the Miocene).

Stages of life of human predecessors and their names

According to modern paleontological studies, the ancient human predecessors are primitive mammals (insectivores), which gave rise to a subfamily of parapithecines.

Before we know who the driopithecines are (the period of their life), we will give definitions to other subspecies.

The appearance of parapithecines dates back to about 35 million years ago. These are the so-called arboreal monkeys, from which originate modern orangutans, gibbons and driopithecines.

What are driopithecines? These are semi-arid and semi-terrestrial creatures that appeared about 18 million years ago. They gave rise to Australopithecines, modern gorillas and chimpanzees.

Australopithecus, in turn, arose 5 or more million years ago in the steppes of Africa. They already represented the highly developed monkeys moving on 2 back extremities, but in a half-bent condition. Perhaps, they gave rise to the so-called Skillful Man.

"Man of skill" was formed about 3 million years ago. He is considered the ancestor of the archanthropes. It was at this stage that their transformation into man took place, since during this period the first primitive tools of labor were manufactured. Arhanthropus had certain rudiments of speech, and they could use fire.

Then came the Ancient People - Neanderthals (Paleanthropines).

During this period, there was a division of labor: women were engaged in processing carcasses of animals, collecting edible plants, and men were engaged in hunting and making tools and hunting.

And, finally, Modern people (or Neoanthropes) are Cro-Magnon people. They are representatives of the Homo sapiens, who appeared about 50 thousand years ago and lived generic communities. They were engaged in farming, they tamed animals. There were rudiments of culture and religion.

Driopithecus: period of life, habitat, peculiarities of the structure

The remains of this species were found in the Miocene and Pliocene sediments. Among them, according to the truth, only some scientists - the ancestors of the apes of the anthropoid and the man himself.

They lived in Western Europe (18-9 million years ago). There are confirming similar finds in East Africa and in Northern India. Both externally and in their behavior, they were very similar to chimpanzees and gorillas, but a little bit more primitive.

Not very many facts have been preserved to accurately judge their dwelling and habits. They only give an idea of how the driopithecas lived (period of life, habitat, food, etc.). Most likely, they were fed mainly by various vegetation (forest berries, fruits, herbs), and lived just on trees.

By their external characteristics and behavior, they resemble modern chimpanzees and baboons: their length reached an average of 60 centimeters, and the body weight was from 20 to 35 kg. Regarding the methods of movement, the driopithecus resembles modern gibbons and orangutans.

They are characterized by a better development of the upper limbs that have lost their participation in their movement.

There are also peculiarities: they had binocular vision and a more developed central nervous system.

The meaning of the word "driopithecus"

The word "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 anthropoid apes. The very first discovery of this fossil occurred in 1856 in France near Saint-Godan, in sediments from the age of 15 to 18 million years. Knowing this, Darwin believed that the prehistoric ancestor shared both human and anthropomorphic monkeys (Africa) - chimpanzees and gorillas.

The relationship of the driopytek with humans is evidenced by the structure of his jaw and teeth, combining the signs of both humans and anthropoids. Teeth root lower in driopithecus are very similar in structure to human molars, and at the same time strongly developed fangs and presence of certain traits are more typical for monkeys anthropomorphic.

The closest to all people is Darwin's driopithecus, whose period of life is the Middle Miocene. His remains were found in Austria.

About other modern representatives of the monkey genus

The "younger brothers" of those distant ancestors of people lagged hopelessly, and remained on the other side of the path of evolutionary development leading from ape to man. Some of the species of monkeys (the end of the Tertiary period) increasingly adapted to live only on trees, so they forever adhered 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 bodies, to their enlargement. Thus, there were huge meganthropes and gigantopithecines. Their remains were found in southern China. The same type of modern gorilla. And their strength and size during life in the forest increased to the detriment of 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 recently the remains of an anthropoid ape were found even in Georgia. Presumably, this species is worn specifically to the driopithecus, and it was given the name of a good pita (by the name of the Udabno area).