The Last Ape Standing The 7 Million Summary

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Essay - The Last Ape Standing The Seven-Million-Year Story of How and Why We Survived…………. By Chip Walter --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Over the past 150 years scientists have discovered evidence that at least twenty seven species of humans have been evolved on planet Earth. These weren 't simply variations on apes, but upright walking humans who lived side by side, competing, cooperating, and sometimes even mating with our direct ancestors. Why did the line of ancient humans, who eventually evolved into us survive when the others were shown the evolutionary door? In this book the writer draws our attention on new scientific discoveries and elucidated that …show more content…

He also explains how the evolution of our highly social nature has shaped our moral and immoral behavior. He follows the roots of our creativity and investigates why we became self aware in ways that no other animal is. Along the way, Last Ape Standing profiles the mysterious "others" who evolved with us like the Neanderthals of Europe, the "hobbits" of Indonesia, the Denisovans of Siberia, and the Red Deer Cave people of China, who died off just as we stood on the brink of civilization eleven thousand years ago. Sure we know that humans are here today, but the why and how is what the author clarified or tried to explain. The why part is most interesting since we certainly weren 't the strongest and we don 't even have the largest brains. The author also elucidated how we once thought that each species devolved from the previous one simply as an improved version and that they didn 't coexist together. It is basically the human nature which instigates him to know and understand its origins. Indeed, creation stories are ever present among the world’s cultures. Somewhat fittingly, the vast majority of these creation stories have the human race emerging quickly, if not instantaneously a revolutionary moment befitting a revolutionary species. When it comes to the story from science, on the other hand, while it may be no less spectacular, it is far less abrupt, for it has our species emerging much slower. Indeed, the writer elucidated that the latest findings indicate that we began branching away from the species to which we are most closely related the chimpanzee some 7 million years ago, and that only a series of small modifications spread out over this time has led us to our current state i.e. Homo Sapiens. However long the process may have taken, though, in the end it was nevertheless revolutionary. Question # 2 - Do you think that evolution of humans and