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First Ancestors chapter 3: The Competition

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Period: Late Neogene (Late Pliocene, Middle Piacenzian)

Date: 3,500,000 BC

Location: Eastern Africa





Grunting contentedly, mother and son pluck berries from the bushes. The infant, however, is restless and fidgety. Frustrated, her mother dumps her small, squirming body onto the young male, who begins to groom his sister, seemingly content to act as babysitter. The bond between these two will continue to develop as the baby grows, and she will always be able to look to her older brother for protection against not only predators of their kind, but also occasional aggression from certain other members of the troop - something she will need sooner than either of them realize.
Losing all interest in food for now, the young Australopithecus afarensis pair begins some rough-and-tumble games. Enjoying herself immensely, the infant pulls her lips over her teeth and pants at her brother, making a “play face”. The peace does not last long, however. A distant screeching carries on the wind, and the mother stops in mid-chew, staring keenly in the direction of the calls. The other Australopithecus of the troop feeding nearby also stop, and the males begin to bristle, the hair on their backs and shoulders standing on end. Another scream cuts across the clearing, closer now, and the infant begins to whimper. Her brother pats her almost absentmindedly - he is mostly concentrating hard on the noise, trying to work out where it is coming from. Their mother, tense and agitated, takes the infant back, pulling her close to her chest, and the infant begins to suckle for comfort.
The young male becomes increasingly excited and, spotting a party of adult males on the far side of the clearing, bounds over to them, falling over himself in his eagerness to join them. Two of the highest-ranking males are present in the party, and with the alpha male now dead they are competing for his position. Among the privileges this brings are mating opportunities. The lead male had fathered most of the infants in the troop, including the female who has fallen asleep, her mother’s nipple still in her mouth.
While the cautious contender continues to scan the bushes, the other gathered males scream and chatter wildly to each other, attempting to gauge his reaction, waiting to see if he will lead them off towards the source of the noise. For, unlike this morning, these mysterious screams do not herald a predator attack on them, but the imminent arrival of another Australopithecus afarensis troop, intruders attracted by the high-quality foods available in this territory. The threat of violence is real, for both males and females, and the individuals are right to show fear. The intruder troop is larger, and has more adult males. They have already beaten one of the Australopithecus males of the present troop to death and attacked a pregnant female of the present troop in the last month. The intruders seem intent on eradicating this troop, and taking over their range for themselves.
The other contender for the alpha male position in the present troop, youthful and less experienced, lacks the guarded aggression of the cautious male and finds it hard to keep control. As the males work themselves up into more frenzied bouts of screaming, he grabs a fallen branch and begins flailing it wildly around his head. The females watch, seemingly impressed with this show of strength, while the brash contender whoops in excitement. Bolder now, he swings his newfound weapon at the other contender male, forcing him to jump for safety. The cautious male screams and charges, but it is too late. He has shown his opponent that he is vulnerable.
Shaken, but in control now, the cautious older male leaves the clearing, followed by the young contender and two of the other male adults. The adolescent six-year-old male also tags along. He is still excited, and one of the older males threatens him; this is no time for juvenile high spirits. The other males are tense and edgy. Chastened by the threat and picking up on their moods, the adolescent falls silent. The cautious contender leads them in single file, at a fast, determined pace. Occasionally, he leaves his position at the head of the patrol, climbing high in the trees to check what lies ahead. Screams are still heard periodically from deep in the woods, and these males pause briefly, before replying with screams of their own. The adolescent male falls behind a little, his legs not strong enough to keep up with the pace. They have travelled at least two kilometers already, but their range is broad, and they have a way to go. There is still no sign of the intruders, but the screams are getting closer.
The pace is stepped up once more, and the adolescent male is beginning to be left behind altogether, when the cautious contender male suddenly stops, bringing the patrol to an abrupt halt. The calls of the rival troop are directly in front of them. He lets out a terrible scream of his own, then silence falls. The stillness is unnerving and the tension among the five patrolling males is palpable, each one rigid with concentration. They are close to the boundary of their range, and their leader is wary. The other contender however, still buoyed his earlier victory, is now wild and unruly, flinging himself into trees, screaming hysterically. Unable to stay put any longer, he sets off towards a large clearing just visible through the trees. It is the shortest route to the boundary, but it leaves them completely exposed. Not only is he being foolhardy, he has also made another direct challenge to his opponent, who has been making decisions about the route, and he cannot tolerate this.
Their confrontation is brief but loud. Face to face, the younger male realizes how physically powerful the older male is, and he suddenly lacks the confidence to continue his challenge. What is more, the other males in their patrol show little sign of supporting him in his efforts. The brash contender drops to the ground, pant-grunting and holding out his hand as a signal of submission. Acknowledging this gesture with a hand on his head, the cautious male sets off in his chosen direction, leading them down towards a fast-flowing river. The rest of the males in the patrol follow without hesitation, all except the young contender male, who remains in the clearing. The cautious male turns to check that he is following. Instead of briefly averting his gaze from his victor, as protocol dictates, the brash, young male contender fully meets his eye. His baleful glare is not a good sign. This morning’s confrontation will not be the last.
Like Chimpanzees, Australopithecus males often form strong relationships with each other, and spend most of their time together. Females form looser, more casual bonds with males. When females are fertile, temporary courtships between males and females form and they may disappear together for days on end but, as soon as mating is over, the bond breaks sometimes down and they go their separate ways. At this stage of evolution, there is no need for exclusive pair bonds, or any division of labor between the sexes. For the moment, adult males and adult females are not entirely dependent on each other to cope with life’s daily problems. However, the shift to this kind of bipedalism is beginning to generate evolutionary pressures that will change this state of affairs dramatically, the results of which will be left right down to the Holocene epoch of the future Quaternary period.
While males and females lead nearly independent lives in adulthood, males are heavily dependent on each other to achieve dominance. They spend a great deal of time grooming, forging bonds and building alliances. An alpha male, in particular, will take trouble to ensure that the other males support him. He will be well established and have many allies. An alpha male will often be in peak physical condition and an impressive combatant. Another male will not stand a chance of defeating him, unless the dominant should suddenly lose power, either through injury or illness, or by losing the support of others. Otherwise, the dominant male will retain this position until he dies. The new male leader here may have to deal with dissent in the ranks; however, this is the least of his problems at the moment. Across the river, someone is watching them…
The intruder male watches as the patrol from this territory's troop moves towards him on the far bank. Sensing his groupmates pushing up behind him, he threatens them with a soft coughing bark and they move back. He shifts position for a better look and the branches around him shake. Back on the other side of the river, the movement catches the dominant cautious male’s eye. Realizing he has been spotted, the peaking intruder male emerges from the bush, staring at the cautious dominant, challenging him. The males in the patrol begin to sway from side to side, agitated, and once again their hair begins to stand on end. Behind the intruder, there is further movement as the remaining members of his party emerge from the bushes, and the two groups face off across the water.
The skirmish erupts in a frenzy of screams and hoots. The males in the patrol of five become wildly aggressive, jumping from the trees to the ground and climbing back again, tearing off some branches and hurling them across the river. The intruders respond in kind, heaving rocks, many of which fall short of their target, sending fountains of water into the air, adding to the chaos. The brash contender, still harboring aggression and resentment over his failed dominance bid, releases all his pent-up hostility in a magnificent threat display, leaping around on a low-hanging branch jutting out over the water. Some of the males on the other side begin to display in a similar fashion, but neither party seems to want to take things further. The sides are too evenly matched to risk real violence; their displays are merely an effort to reinforce the boundaries between their ranges.
Gradually, the young contender’s display begins to wind down. He leaps onto the bank and lands close to the adolescent male, who greets him with a barrage of frantic hoots and barks. Listening to their frenzied screams, it is hard to see these Creatures as anything other than Apes. But as the encounter comes to an end, they do something that no non-Australopithecine Ape has ever done nor ever will: they stand fully upright and they walk away on two legs in a humanlike way.
Future humans' link to Australopithecus is clear with this one simple action; it moves in a way that is unique to the clade of Great Apes to which Humans will belong. None of the other Primates move like this (other Apes that occasionally move bipedally do not exactly have the same posture), and it brings with it advantages that will shape Australopithecine/Hominina evolution for millions of years to come. But how did such a strange trait come about? Why exactly has evolution suddenly started to favor Apes who stand on their own two feet? To find out, we need to leave Australopithecus and travel further back in time: another 3.5 million years.

To Be Continued
Chapter 3 of First Ancestors from the Walking with Cavemen book.

WWC (c) BBC

Companion Book (c) John Lynch & Louise Barrett
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