Question

In light of the out-of-Africa hypothesis, which of the following is a parsimonious reason why species like Homo neanderthalensis, Homo floresinensis, and Homo erectus do not exist today?

a. Modern Homo sapiens outcompeted and replaced other hominin species as they migrated around the world.

b. Climate change in Africa caused the extinction of all hominin populations except for the ones that gave rise to modern Homo sapiens.

c. Extensive gene flow between human populations led to a blending of traits that resulted in the evolution of Homo sapiens.

d. As modern Homo sapiens developed new and more accurate hunting skills, they were able to hunt other hominin species to extinction.

Answer 1

The out-of-Africa hypothesis suggests that there have been several migration events of Homo species. The first noted migration is by Homo erectus. They migrated outside Africa into the Eurasian lands and subsequently evolved into neanderthalensis, floresinensis, etc.

The erectus that stayed back in the African mainland evolved into the modern day humans or Homo sapiens. Subsequently, humans crossed out of the African continent and migrated on the Eurasian plains. Compared to other Homo species, humans were gait and could traverse large distances easily. Also they had more socializing capability that allowed them to form large communities and tribes.

Eventually, there were several encounters of ancient humans with the other Homo species that were present throughout the Eurasian lands.

Most of these encounters seemed to evolve in disputes and fights, and given that other species do not exist today, human ancestors clearly out-competed them and brought all Homo speices to extinction except for themselves.

Therefore, the correct answer is a.

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