Primates al este del Edén

Six million years ago, the environment in which our ancestors lived began to change. The jungle gave way to open forest and this to grasslands. The occupation of this new environment was possible thanks to the ability of the first members of our lineage to walk upright. The need to move through these open spaces meant a change in their body configuration that gave them great resistance: their legs became longer, their muscles became resistant to fatigue, their ability to sweat increased, and their fur was lost. His diet was also transformed; What had been their main foods -fruits and leaves, mainly- became scarce and, in their place, seeds, rhizomes and tubers proliferated which, together with a greater abundance of meat, led to the gradual transition from a mostly herbivorous diet to a more varied one. which, in turn, allowed a metabolic acceleration that required a greater supply of food. The virtuous circles that were unleashed led our ancestors to acquire sophisticated cognitive abilities and to cooperate intensely -especially in raising children- within the group. In Primates East of Eden, biologist Juan Ignacio Pérez reveals the keys to the biological success that allowed our species to expand to the farthest reaches of the planet.