Evidence And Interpretation In Paleoanthropology Essay Research

Johanson’s film disturbed me in others parts. For example, when Lucy was killed by a lion and dragged into a tree. It seemed almost as if Lucy’s hearing was not keen enough and therefore she was unable to escape the lion. It is a very crucial portion of the circle of life but the idea of Lucy being killed and dragged into a tree to become dinner for a hungry lion bothers me because of the direct link of Lucy to humans.

I believe that Lucy is one of the first Australopithecines closely related to the human species for several reasons. Although she had a small brain, Lucy could make tools, use a fire for heat, and use sticks to gather termites for food. Lucy using other tools to benefit her for food was one of the traits that the chimps in the Jane Goodall film were using. Lucy also was able to walk upright and has a pelvic structure similar to that of a human.

Stringer and McKie believe that unlike monkeys, who are still arboreal, apes were forced from trees, which is why they have evolved walking upright. In the films, it never suggested that Lucy was arboreal. For the beginning of the film, Johanson showed the audience an erect, bipedal Lucy. The idea that Lucy was bipedal refutes Stringer and McKie’s theory that our ancestor evolved from trees. I have to say that I agree with the idea that humans evolved walking but I do not think that our ancestors were arboreal. I think that our ancestors were probably quadripedal and then became more erect but I do not believe that humans evolved from trees. The comparisons between the book and the film are unusual because I find myself believing the studies from the film.