Robust australopithecines

Abstract

Robustni australopiteci predstavljaju izrazito zanimljivu granu u evoluciji čovjeka. Njihov razvoj je tekao u smjeru razvijanja snažnog sustava organa za žvakanje i sposobnosti da prežive na puno nekvalitetnijoj hrani od svojih gracilnih rođaka. Takve prilagodbe su im služile kroz dugi niz godina, no, međutim, pretjerana specijalizacija se na kraju pokazala neuspješnom, kao mnogo puta do tada. Dok je sposobnost ranih hominida da se domognu pomoću alata raznih izvora hrane poput mesa robusni australopiteci su se razvili u oblik sličniji gorilama. Međutim bilo bi ih pogrešno smatrati neuspjehom. Iako nisu uspjeli migrirati iz Afrike i kolonizirati svijet, oni su uspješno preživljavali 1.5 milijuna godina u svojem okolišu, mnogo duže nego većina vrsta iz roda Homo.The robust australopithecines represent a very interesting branch in human evolution. Their development was directed towards the development of a strong system of chewing organs and the ability to survive on a diet of a far lesser quality than that of their more gracile cousins. Such adaptations served them through a vast period of time, but in the end such overspecialization turned out to be inefficient as it had many times before. In a contrast the ability of early hominids to get various foods, such as meat, by using tools, the robust australopithecines developed into a form similar to that of a gorilla. However, it would be wrong to consider them a failure. Although they did not mange to migrate from Africa and colonize the world, they succeeded in surviving 1.5 million years in their environment, which is much longer than most Homo species managed