[opergolon]

Cass... it was obviously a cumulatative effect created by the two of you! Just please let me know, in advance, where you're going on holiday this year! We'll obviously have to bear it in mind, in future that no one region of the world can take a visit by two members of the Gate within months of one another, and so co-ordinate our travels accordingly.

Denisova Boyzzz, wodr, reminds me of this article that you posted on the Gate more than a year ago now, and so I went searching for it. Since it was published, Ardi has been outed as "probably not our ancestor" but anyway...that doesn't detract from its general thrust, no pun intended!

All -

[quote:vs0epxyp]According to Owen Lovejoy of Kent State University, it all comes down to food, and sex.

In apes—both modern apes and, presumably, the ancient ancestors of Ardipithecus—males find mates the good old-fashioned apish way: by fighting with other males for access to fertile females. Success, measured in number of offspring, goes to macho males with big sharp canine teeth who try to mate with as many ovulating females as possible. Sex is best done quickly—hence those penis bristles, which accelerate ejaculation—with the advantage to the male with big testicles carrying a heavy load of sperm. Among females, the winners are those who flaunt their fertility with swollen genitals or some other prominent display of ovulation, so those big alpha dudes will take notice and give them a tumble, providing a baby with his big alpha genes.

Let's suppose that some lesser male, with poor little stubby canines, figures out that he can entice a fertile female into mating by bringing her some food. That sometimes happens among living chimpanzees, for instance when a female rewards a male for presenting her with a tasty gift of colombus monkey.

Among Ardipithecus's ancestors, such a strategy could catch on if searching for food required a lot of time and exposure to predators. Males would be far more successful food-providers if they had their hands free to carry home loads of fruits and tubers—which would favor walking on two legs. Females would come to prefer good, steady providers with smaller canines over the big fierce-toothed ones who left as soon as they spot another fertile female. The results, says Lovejoy, are visible in Ardipithecus, which had small canines even in males and walked upright.

Lovejoy's explanation for the origin of bipedalism thus comes down to the monogamous pair bond. Far from being a recent evolutionary innovation, as many people assume, he believes the behavior goes back all the way to near the beginning of our lineage some six million years ago. From here: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news ... s-sex.html

Just when you thought it couldn't possibly get more amazing!

hoka hey
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