Question

Paranthropus boisei and Homo neanderthalensis are considered “side branches” of human evolution - these species lived alongside Homo erectus and ancestral populations of Homo sapiens, respectively (see the hominin evolutionary tree on the last page of the handout), but are not thought to have notably contributed to the evolution of modern humans. Compare the anatomical features of the skull in a) Paranthropus boisei vs. Homo erectus and b) Homo neanderthalensis vs. Homo sapiens, and based on these comparisons come up with hypotheses to explain why Paranthropus and Homo neanderthalensis might have gone extinct while Homo erectus and Homo sapiens did not. (Hint: think about climatic factors - try doing some research on your own to determine what was happening with the climate at the time that Paranthropus and Homo neanderthalensis went extinct. Also, think about the various evolutionary mechanisms that we’ve discussed in lecture and lab).