My passion is studying early man, specifically how we became who
we are. Is our violence an aberration or part and parcel of
survival? No other mammal kills their own, but maybe–as the
alpha on the planet–our greatest threat to our survival is our
own species, so we’re forced to destroy each other. What was
lacking in H. Habilis that led to their extinction, to be
replaced by the big-brained, scrawny Homo erectus? Habilis was
preyed upon by species with bigger claws, sharper teeth and
thicker skin. Habilis (and my friend Lyta) scavenged their left-
overs, in between hiding from the imposing mammals that
dominated the Plio-Pleistocene African savanna. But, eventually
hiding wasn’t enough and H. erectus took over (we don’t know if
they fought with each other or if habilis left ‘with a
whimper’). H. erectus, with his longer lower limbs for running
and walking efficiency, his bigger brain especially in the areas
for planning and forethought (and speech depending upon whose
research you’re reading) was tall, thin,