"Evolution today can only be played within the constraints set by the past." Some of the facts provided were also shocking, such as humans comprising 36% of all mammals, and the fact that chickens make up 60% of all birds worldwide! It really highlighted how due to our huge push for domestication, we are rapidly pushing out wild species altogether. I loved learning about the intricacies and political charge of labelling certain species as 'native,' and how certain plants evolved to be appealing and delicious to others (so the seeds can be eaten and spread around) while others, like grass, wind-pollinate and therefore evolved ways to not be as appetizing. This was a beautifully written and narrated walk through prehistoric evolution. However hard you try to define every point before the signpost as non-human, and every point after the post as human, the river flows continually onwards." What, after all, distinguishes us from other animals? There was no moment at which humanity suddenly arose – the populations that led to Pan and the populations that led to Homo did not undergo a sudden shift. "For humans, defining the point at which we are confident of claiming ‘humanity’ is difficult.
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