Lately, I’ve been watching a lot of Casual Geographic and I have a spark of inspiration for this post.
One thing I want to make clear right off the bat is I’m neither a zoologist nor a paleontologist for that matter. There’s a pretty high chance that what I’ll post here will age horribly in a few years.
#5: Smilodons have zero relationship to tigers
For some reason, people still call them “saber tooth tigers” despite the lack of relationship. Yes, they’re both technically “cats”, but they’re in different families. Tigers are part of the panther family, and Smilodons are part of the extinct Machairodontinae group of Felids.
#4: Chalicotheriums are distantly related to horses, rhinos and Tapirs
When I learned that these gorilla rhinos were related to horses, I started to question everything.
#3: Triceratops was an underrated badass of the Cretaceous period
How many other dinosaurs do you think gave Trex a bad day? There’s quite a bit of fossil evidence out there that Tricerarops likely gored TRex and other therapods for breakfast.
#2: Mammoths were alive around the time the pyramid of Giza was being built
The last mammoth is estimated to have died out 4000 some odd years ago. The pyramids of Giza were built before then.
That’s pretty close to our time, geologically speaking. If you need a crazier scale:
By the time Nanni left his harsh review of Ea-Nasir’s copper business, Mammoths were only extinct for 300 years.
And finally
#1: We are the last Homo genus left
For those who are reading and don't know: “Homo” isn't a slur in this context, but rather the name of the genus we all belong to. Our full name is “Homo Sapien”.
As crazy as it sounds, there used to be other species of homo sapiens not too long ago (evolutionarily speaking). Other species include Homo Habilis, Homi Erectus and Homo Neanderthalisis. All of which are extinct. The closest living relatives we technically have are Pans, which include Bonobos and Chimpanzees.
Why are we the last of our kind?
It actually might have something to do with the Uncanny Valley effect. To make a long story short, it describes a strong negative reaction to things that seem almost human but aren't. This could be leftover instinct from when we had to compete with others who were just like us.
Does this mean that we drove them to extinction? It's hard to say. We probably out-competed them for resources. The uncanny valley instinct may have also helped early humans avoid picking needless fights.
Regardless, the fact that we are all the last of our kind is crazy yet scary to think about. Since no species lasts forever, should we ever go extinct that'll be it.
Ill leave it off there, lest I give myself an existential crisis.
Comments
Post a Comment