FSCN 3615 Lecture Notes - Lecture 4: Australopithecus Afarensis, Homo Erectus, Omnivore
16 Feb 2018
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Advantage of omnivores: able to access any environment you want, which is why humans have been so successful. In the past, early hominids (pre-human or our early ancestors) were probably also omnivores, consuming small animals, fish, bugs. The primary advantage is that we can adapt to nearly all earthly environments finding something to eat. We must be flexible and eat enough variety to have sufficient growth and maintain good physical status, but cautious enough not to randomly eat something harmful or fatal. The need to experiment, coupled with the need for caution is the omnivore paradox. So generally, people are attracted to new foods; but they have a preference for familiar foods. Humans have 23 pairs of chromosomes while chimpanzees have 24. We share about 95% of our dna. Humans are bipedal: (stand on two legs/walking upright) Walking frees the hands to do other tasks.
