Abstract
This paper seeks to narrate a typical day of a hominid. The hypothetical day is brought out clearly by a character that assumes the nature of a hominid. All the physical characteristics of the hominid, in this case, an Australopithecus, will be discussed in the natural way of the storyline. Other important details of the day to day life of the hominid-like shelter, social setup, adaptations to the environment and other vital inter-relationships among this species is to be brought to light.
Introduction
A hominid is any member of the family Hominidae. Recent classification schemes for apes place extinct and extant humans, chimpanzees, gorillas and other orangutans in Hominidae, and thus technically hominid refers to members of these groups. In this paper, I will specifically discuss the features and behaviors of Australopithecus as a hominid. The name Australopithecus comes from two Greek words whose translation means Southern Ape (Johanson, White, & Coppens, 1978 ) . There are different categories of Australopithecus which includes; Afarensis, Africanus, Sediba, and Garhi among others. His class is Mammalia. Members of Australopithecus exhibited both humanlike and apelike traits as shown by fossil evidence.
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A Day in the Life of a Hominid
Inside the dark corners of warm East African caves, an Australopithecus arises from a night of peace and rest. His ape-like vocal tract that is formed of a high larynx and short pharynx limits the range of sounds he is able to produce. His speech is therefore restricted, same as everyone else’s around him, not allowing them to say good morning to each other. A flat nose and a strongly projecting lower jaw form the best of his ape-like face proportions (Clark, 2018 pg191) . Just like the modern humans, he has 32 teeth characterized by parallel molars, with slight pre-canine diastema, but the canines are smaller. Their teeth are less interlocked than in the previous hominins. In fact, in some australopithecines, the canines are shaped more like incisors. He has larger cheek (buccal). It is possible that they have tougher, fibrous plant materials and also more meat. It is also possibly due to their large build requiring more food. He stretches out his long strong arms with curved fingers. These are adapted to climbing trees, big rocks, and other fairly irregular terrains. His legs have widely spaced toes on large feet (Clark, 2018 pg194) . Almost the whole of his body is covered in hair so he rarely feels cold even during the night and rainy seasons. When he finally steps up, he is able to stand on his two feet, therefore, making him bipedal, just like the modern humans. The males are 4ft 11in in height and weigh 42kg while the females are 3ft 5in and weigh 29kg (Grine et al., 2006). The hominid has large eyeballs that hold big eyes but he has a comparatively smaller brain.
In the hominid’s normal day, it is more of trying to stay alive. It means there are no complicated duties or obligations in example social, religious or political obligations. So as he steps outside his cave, he is welcomed by the friendly climate and favorable environment to start of his day of looking for food and water. The other hominids in the small society, some of which slept on trees also get about trying to familiarize with the new day and ensuring that his relatives are well. The environment has a range of physical features that he can use to his advantage and ensure his survival (McHenry, 2009). On almost all ends there are trees, some big and others small. They are of different types. There is a river a couple of hundred meters away and a lake about three kilometers from where these hominids are living. Caves are scattered irregularly around the place, some of them going slightly deep.
The method used to acquire food depends on various factors of which one is the periodic seasons or weather which variates the availability of certain foods plants and animals. For this particular day, this particular Australopithecus and his mates are going for hunting and gathering. And because each and every species of this hominin is successfully adapted to its lifestyle and is not evolving towards any end, natural selection hones them. It means even though the bigger (older) ones are naturally supposed to provide for the younger ones, better still the stronger hominid survives easily and for long. The middle Pliocene expansion of the eastern African Australopithecus diet to include savanna-based foods represents a shift to use of plant food resources that are already abundant in hominin environments for at least 1 million years and sets the stage for dietary differentiation and niche specialization by subsequent hominin taxa (Johanson et al., 1978).
In a typical Australopithecus’s diet are leaves, fruits, termites and meat meals from lesser animals (Clark, 2018 pg11). The hominid sets out into the forest to look for not only wild fruits but also animals to hunt for his day. The wild fruits are readily available like wild plums, pawpaws, persimmons, wild grapes, apples, and cherry trees. Mangoes are also available for this hominid to feed on, but that is just enough vitamins for a hominid in a day. Time for some little hunting to get a taste of meat and blood. The Australopithecus together with his mates set traps along a sloppy terrain and wait with sharpened medium tree branches at a distance. Time elapses with no antelope or rabbit passing by. Today seems not to be a lucky day. The hominid decides to get something else while waiting for the victim to come along and fall into the trap. He gets some small sticks and heads towards the bark of a tree. Marooned just behind the barks are termites which is a delicacy to this giant creature roaming by. He savors his catch and heads to another tree till that becomes kind of boring then starts digging up some soft heap of soil. Apparently, this is a win too because there are plenty of termites buried here. The other hominids come and they enjoy the feast together.
Younger ones who are unable to fend for themselves are provided for by their parent hominids. It is done more in a way of teaching them how to collect the food themselves than just readily giving them to their mouth. Covering the forest and thickets are trees and other plants whose leaves really serve good at being an alternative source of food to these hominids. They, therefore, exploit this opportunity of diversity in their diet, generously presented to them by the promising environment. This hustle continues for the better part of the day, save for the occasional rest and a trip down the river to quench his thirst. Sometimes he even gets inside the water just to feel good and cool. Well, to be honest, there is nothing better that he can want from this part of the world.
As the day comes to an end, the hominid walks slowly back to the caves, together with the others, making weird but slightly constructive sounds. For he has completely no knowledge of fire, the poor creature is going to rely on his hairy skin to keep him warm through the night. He takes some stone and starts drawing images on the walls of the cave. Others too practice this form of art known as rock art. Maybe he majorly does this to express some deep emotions, to picture somethings he saw during the day or just to pass hi sweet time. The hominid in summation with the others, live in harmony and take care of each other. For the case of searching for food and protecting themselves, inclusive of other social activities, they are unified and kind. Conclusively speaking, this part of the world harbors such untouched and undisturbed natural flow of the universe, and undeveloped yet such an appealing culture.
References
Clark S. L., (2017). Our Origins: Discovering Physical Anthropology (4th ed): W.W Norton & Company, Inc.
Grine, Frederick E.; Ungar, Peter S.; Teaford, Mark F. (2006-07-01). "Was the Early Pliocene hominin 'Australopithecus' anamensis a hard object feeder? : research article" . South African Journal of Science . 102 (7–8)
Johanson, D.C, White, T.D, Coppens, 1978 A new species of the genus Australopithecus (Primates: Hominidae) from the pliocence of Eastern Africa Kirtlandia 28,pp. 2-3.
McHenry, H. M. (2009). "Human Evolution". In Michael Ruse; Joseph Travis. Evolution: The First Four Billion Years . Cambridge, Massachusetts: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press. pp. 261–265
