Human evolution – Aposematic model
Research Topics
Aposematism is one of the two pivotal survival strategies in the animal kingdom:
(1) Crypsis, and(2) Aposematism.
- Cryptic species avoid predation by hiding, being silent, and running from predators after they have been discovered.
- Aposematic species, on the other hand, do not try to hide or escape from predators. They instead challenge predators by intimidating them by various displays: increasing size of their body, using bright colours, smells, and fearless behaviour.
"Singing Rabbit and a Lion Dance:Origin of Rhythm": Excerpt from the 2006 book Who Asked the First Question?.[...] The evolutionary cost of singing is quite high. You must be big and strong to habitually afford singing-like loud and long vocalizations (like lions, wolves, whales). There is another option if you are a singing lover – you must be able to fly, like avian birds, or at least, be able to take a quick refuge high on a tree, like gibbons. So, if you are not big and strong, or cannot fly, of quickly escape high into the trees, you’d better shut up and be as quiet as possible if you want to survive. A singing rabbit would not reach an old age [... Continue reading]
The theory that the strategy of aposematic display was central to human evolution first appeared in my 2011 book Why Do People Sing? although similar ideas were touched on in my 2006 book Who Asked the First Question. Very importantly, I proposed that the strategy of aposematism must be applied to many species that are believed to have evolved over time under the influence of sexual selection.
The fullest treatment of this topic is given in my 2014 book Tigers, Lions and Humans: History of Rivalry, Conflict, Reverence and Love, which is dedicated to evolutionary interactions between human ancestors and the ancestors of today’s big cats.
- "Times to Fight: Music and War": Excerpt from the 2011 book Why do People Sing?
[...] The article discusses the function of music in human evolution and suggests that music initially had a binary form of expression, serving several important adaptive functions of physical survival. These two main forms of expressions were:(1) Loud and rhythmically precisely organized singing, coupled with threatening body movements, loud drumming and stone throwing. This form was a key factor for (a) defending hominids from predators, (b) providing them with protein-rich food via aggressive scavenging, and (3) strengthenng bonds bet ween the group members;
(2) Soft and gentle humming, which was a key factor to allow hominids (1) to main tain contact within group, (2) to watch out for predators, and (3) to relax [... Continue reading]
Chapters 1, 2 and 3 from the 2014 book Tigers, Lions and Humans.
[...] I want to start this section with an accusation, which might be hard to believe for some of the readers of this book. The accusation goes like this: no scholar of human evolution has seriously asked whether there are any notable differences for animal species between living in the trees and living on the ground. The situation is quite amazing. On one hand, there is a full and equivocal scholarly agreement about the crucial importance of descending from the trees to the ground of our primate ancestors for the evolution of Homo sapiens. I wholeheartedly join scholars of human evolution on this point. On the other hand, it is difficult for me to comprehend why none of the scholars of human evolution, or even broader, the evolution of animal species, ever researched the existing differences in living circumstances in these two vastly different environments. So, arguably for the first time in writings on evolution, on the next few pages I will try to demonstrate that there are enormous differences between living and surviving predators in tree branches on one hand, and on the ground on the other hand. I believe that understanding these differences are crucial for understanding most of the morphological and behavioural changes that lead our primate ancestors to the road towards humanity. So let us try to analyze what kind of differences are we talking about when we discuss the terrestrial (living on the ground) and the arboreal (living in tree branches) lifestyles [... Continue reading]
[...] I want to start this section with an accusation, which might be hard to believe for some of the readers of this book. The accusation goes like this: no scholar of human evolution has seriously asked whether there are any notable differences for animal species between living in the trees and living on the ground. The situation is quite amazing. On one hand, there is a full and equivocal scholarly agreement about the crucial importance of descending from the trees to the ground of our primate ancestors for the evolution of Homo sapiens. I wholeheartedly join scholars of human evolution on this point. On the other hand, it is difficult for me to comprehend why none of the scholars of human evolution, or even broader, the evolution of animal species, ever researched the existing differences in living circumstances in these two vastly different environments. So, arguably for the first time in writings on evolution, on the next few pages I will try to demonstrate that there are enormous differences between living and surviving predators in tree branches on one hand, and on the ground on the other hand. I believe that understanding these differences are crucial for understanding most of the morphological and behavioural changes that lead our primate ancestors to the road towards humanity. So let us try to analyze what kind of differences are we talking about when we discuss the terrestrial (living on the ground) and the arboreal (living in tree branches) lifestyles [... Continue reading]Joseph Jordania's paper "Conspicuousness and Behaviour in Human Evolution" presented on August 3rd, 2017, at the 35th Ethological Conference in Estoril, Portugal.
You can also see a video of my presentation "The singing and painted ape: an aposematic theory of human evolution" at the 2016 Anti-Predator Coloration Symposium at Exeter University (UK).