Page 126 - The Transitional Form Dilemma

THE TRANSITIONAL-FORM DILEMMA

The Leakey family, known as the “fos-
sil hunters.”
Above, Louis and Mary Leakey
Left, Richard Leakey

Homo erectus. As its Latin name suggests, Homo erectus is of the human
genus, and its skeleton is completely upright, with a skull volume up to
twice as large as that of Australopithecus. Even according to the theory of

evolution, it is impossible for there to be any direct transition from a
chimpanzee-like ape species such as Australopithecus to H. erectus with
its skeletal structure indistinguishable from that of modern humans.
Links, or in other words transitional forms, are therefore necessary.
The concept of H. habilis was born of that necessity.
The classification of H. habilis was first suggested in the 1960s by

the Leakey family of fossil hunters. According to the Leakeys, this new
species possessed the ability to walk upright, a relatively large brain
volume, and the ability to use stone and wooden implements—and
might therefore be an ancestor of Man.

124