More on the Hobbit, Time Mag Options

[vilnoori]

Discussion in Time about the origins of the Hobbit (Homo floresiensis):

<http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1892606,00.html>

[billgreen2005big...]

hey vilnoori wow very informative new article about the hobbit thanks bill

[BobZenor]

Morwood seemed to think it possibly diverged earlier than habilis because of some Australopithecine features. That suggests an Asian hominid that was much more "primitive" than the tool using erectus. They didn't walk from Africa to Flores. If it were something that diverged 2.5 to 3 million years ago, there pretty much had to be a much more primitive hominids living in Asia. That throws cold water on the idea that bigfoot must be giganto because all the "erectus" are too technological or whatever that argument actually is. If it migrated latter, that doesn't really change the argument. That split is before significant tools or language was thought to have evolved. Any increased intelligence as suggested would have probably not have been the same kind of intelligence that humans developed. For instance, humans have devoted much to language skills. It would be a stretch to assume convergent evolution on that or technology skills. One brain expert said they have a highly developed region of the brain that deals with planning future actions. That probably makes them smarter than chimps in some way.

The tool use argument on Flores is getting more ridiculous with the notion of modern humans learning from and inheriting hobbit tools from such a primitive hominid. They don't have the same flexible opposable thumb as modern humans and the brain was 1/3 the size. If the local rocks are simple to strike and form small flakes then using them doesn't seem such a stretch. Using them as weapons to hunt pygmy elephants would seem very much beyond them considering there were modern humans in the area for about 50,000 years. Before that, there were much more modern tool using erectus that were probably similar to Neanderthal technologically that could account for any hunts. You also have Komodo dragons that have been recently shown to have venom in addition to deadly bacteria that could kill the small elephants that could be scavenged. Any bones of elephants are more likely scavenged from humans or giant lizard kills. It could also just be humans taking temporary shelter in the cave that left the mammoth bones.

Africa to Flores is a long way for a 4 foot tall hominid to walk and swim considering that there must have been wide open places they must have crossed. There is really no safe way to do that. I wonder what enabled them to even survive the giant monitor lizards and crocodiles not to mention leopards and other big cats in Asia.