• Question: Why have humans evolved more than other animal species

    Asked by en09 to Asif, Laura, Lena, Sean, Viv on 16 Mar 2012.
    • Photo: Sean Murphy

      Sean Murphy answered on 16 Mar 2012:

      We haven’t evolved more than other species. One could argue that we are more successful than other species based on the resources we control and our ability to create/communicate etc. However, success in evolutionary terms is not straight forward. If you were to base success on ability to survive following large fluctuations to the environment, humans may become extinct, while other species may thrive. Evolution is a process rather than a pathway to be followed.

    • Photo: Viv Lyons

      Viv Lyons answered on 18 Mar 2012:

      I think another one of our advantages has been our ability to adapt. This has even become more advanced in that we started out as a species adapting to changes in environment in a relatively quick time (compared to evolutionary time scales) and now we change our environment to suit our needs (ie we build cities).

    • Photo: Lena Ciric

      Lena Ciric answered on 18 Mar 2012:

      I wouldn’t say that we have evolved more than other species. We’ve only been around for about 150 thousand years. The dinosaurs were here for over 150 million (!!!) years.

      What we have evolved is a large brain which has enabled us to look at the world around us and then adapt IT to suit us. No other species has been able to do this. Arguably, this is not so great as we’re doing a good job of ruining the Earth.

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