Scientists at George Washington University in the United States concluded that climate change was not the driving force behind human evolution, as many experts believe. The emergence of ancient people, according to their opinion, could have happened by chance. An article by scientists was published in the journal Paleobiology. It is briefly reported in a press release on Phys.org.
The genus Homo, to which modern man belongs, arose 2.5-2.8 million years ago, when there was an outbreak of speciation. It is believed that this was made possible by global climate change. At the same time, some habitats disappeared and others appeared, which provoked the emergence of new species. However, American scientists have modeled the evolutionary development of life on Earth without the influence of external factors.
It turned out that outbreaks of speciation can occur by chance during evolution. At the same time, in scale, they are comparable to the one that led to the appearance of man. According to the researchers, this indicates that the genus Homo could have arisen without the participation of climatic changes.
Scientists believe that future research should help pinpoint the exact causes of certain human traits, such as the large brain.