Lecture 19 - New theories of human evolution Flashcards
What was the traditional theory that made human special?
• Traditional theory is that we ate meat and meat contains more nutrients and calories – more nutrients can be absorbed and assimilated to fuel or big brains
Why was the theory of meat eating not the reason why we got bigger brains?
But not true because meat eating goes way before humans developed big brains – bipedalism was developed first before big brains
Furthermore, there are other animals who are carnivorous (e.g. lions and tigers) – but these animals do not have big brains and are not intelligent like us
Who came up with the “Cooking Ape Hypothesis” ?
Richard Wrangham
What was the “Cooking Ape Hypothesis” about?
• His theory is that cooking is unique to humans (we learned how to use fire) - and that eating cooked food led to us having bigger brains
What are the benefits of a diet of cooked food?
More calories as the cooked food is partially digested already, body do not need to spend so much energy to break it down further -> net gain in calories
More nutrients because it is easier to digest and absorb the nutrients in cooked food
What are the disadvantages of a raw food diet?
Body needs more energy to digest the raw food than the energy present in the food -> net loss in nutrients/calories -> results in weight loss, malnutrition and in extreme cases – infertility!
Is a diet of cooked food the cause of our big brains?
No. It is only the prerequisite for a bigger brain.
What are the characteristics that shows that humans lived on a diet of cooked food?
Smaller molars and teeth
Absence of barrel chest
Smaller stomach
When did humans become biologically adapted to a diet of cooked food?
somewhere around the time of homo erectus that the cooking revolution happened
