Humans weren’t always hunters and foragers. Two million years ago, a major climactic event cooled the Earth and changed the landscape of East Africa. Forested areas became more patchy and transformed into open woodlands and grasslands. As the habitat changed, so did the food supply, forcing early humans to travel far and wide to chase animals, scavenge for carcasses, and gather plants. Anthropologists believe this was a turning point in the evolution of our species—the moment natural selection began to favor physical traits that helped our ancestors run. The humans who survived were the ones
...more
