There is some evidence that points to a hybridization event between Au. afarensis and gorilla ancestors around 3 million years ago. Based on that, the idea is that Paranthropus, as a form of hybrid species, was adopted by early Homo as a companion species, which formed conditions where (rudimentary) eusociality could evolve.
Eusociality may be limited by that a species shares the same gene pool, so it is difficult to get “labour dimorphism” and division of labour. Technology of course extends the phenotype beyond the gene pool, but at an early stage perhaps a two-species scenario could explain some things, and form rudimentary adaptations that were later on co-opted, through technology and more advanced memetic evolution, for even more eusociality.
The partner-species phase could solve a “chicken or the egg” problem.
What is the “companion-species hypothesis”?
A very far out idea, based around Edward O'Wilsons notion that humans are a "eusocial species of ape". Eusociality is defined as having a caste system, and a division of labour, and humans are the only mammal that are eusocial. The rudimentary traits for eusociality could possibly have evolved from two species co-existing, and then later on have been co-opted for other things. It may sound absurd, but the human species is unlike any other animal on the planet, and so our evolutionary history may well be an unusual one.
"Co-existing with a less intelligent species, Paranthropus, could be a breeding ground for machiavellian intelligence, as they would have been more easily manipulated, as well as for breeding traits necessary for a caste based societal system which is the definition of eusocial organization (eusociality, wikipedia). "
Below is an artist depiction of a Paranthropus bosei, via https://sci-news.com/othersciences/anthropology/science-homo-pan-last-common-ancestor-03220.html
again very interesting to read!
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Lovely.i resteem and upvoted your nice post
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Wow!!! it looks lovely..........////////
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great post i like it
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This is a really interesting and novel hypothesis. I hadn't heard of it before, thanks for sharing!
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It's literally just 3 days old :)
The idea of hybridization and Paranthropus as a result of that is one I had just 4-5 days ago, and it builds on the 2012 gorilla genome project that I discovered only this year. Then, the Pthirus gorillae host switch, detailed in 2007 by Reed et al, that I discovered 4-5 months ago.
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Interesting idea, really. I don't have enough knowledge about the field by a long shot to be able to determine how likely it is to be true and what pieces of evidence actually support it, but I surely enjoyed reading your thoughts about it.
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a summary is that the gorilla genome was first sequenced in 2012,
Insights into hominid evolution from the gorilla genome sequence - nature.com
Then, the gorilla genome was compared to the human genome, and showed that 15% of all genes in the human genome is closer to the gorilla than to the chimpanzee.
That is often explained with incomplete lineage sorting (ILS), that the genes were just inherited that way from the last common ancestor 9 million years ago.
Then, there is a study from 2007 that shows that human pubic lice ("crabs") originate via a host switch from gorilla, around 3.3 million years ago. Then, the way those lice commonly spread, is through sex.
Pair of lice lost or parasites regained: the evolutionary history of anthropoid primate lice
So, those trends combined, could mean that the Pthirus gorillae lice spread while there was interbreeding going on, and that resulted in gene transfer from gorillae to Au. afarensis, as well as the Paranthropus species as a form of "hybrid" (look at their craniums and how they have sagittal crests just like gorilla. )
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Those are indeed very interesting leads! I'll read them and will probably keep on reading on the topic. :)
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Then there is this idea from a few months ago, that the fossil record in Afar follows the counter-clockwise rotation of Danakil. I have only looked at a very small sample of fossils, and the idea is based on that geographical isolation, from when the Afar rift opened up and separated Danakil from Ethiopia, would be a very natural cause of speciation.
https://telegra.ph/Fossil-record-of-a-counter-clockwise-rotation-of-Danakil-09-18
The Au. afarensis would have lived along the coast on south-western Danakil, and the fossils in Afar would originate from the coast itself being deposited into the sea (from tectonic forces), forming the thin sandstone layers in stratigraphies at for example Hadar, positioned between thick layers of clay and sea sediments.
https://telegra.ph/Tectonic-history-of-Danakil-and-the-origin-of-Pliocene-vertebrate-fossils-in-the-Afar-region-09-18
If the Danakil-CHLCA (chimpanzee-human-last-common-ancestor) hypothesis is true, then that introduces boundaries, such as during which time-windows Au. afarensis could migrate via Danakil and the mainland, and so on.
The Pthirus gorillae host switch (and interbreeding event) would then have taken place after the pliocene flood basalts formed a land bridge between Danakil and Somalia, and Au. afarensis migrated (for whatever reason) up on the highlands, along the rift valley.
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wow so much interesting things to learn and see
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Johan! I am following you at steemit before finding you at Facebook
For me Your text is very new field of research, and I can't now give You a scientific answer
But I am think that River of Time flows from future to past
And in future we all will see ancient times as the historical process unfolds in time
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Interesting idea. I really loved reading what you had in mind. Goodluck
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