Question

Compare the cranial capacity and lifestyle of Australopithecus, Homo erectus, Neanderthal man and Homo sapiens.

Answer 1

Cranial Capacity:

1. The inner volume of the cranium of vertebrates with a cranium and a brain is known as cranial capacity.
2. The size of the brain is estimated using cranial volume, which is also indicative of the organism's intellect.

Comparison of the cranial capacity of various hominids:

Australopithecus:

1. They had the most primitive form of the brain with a cranial capacity of only $350$ to $450cc$.
2. They were only able to climb trees with the help of their long arms and did not have any other skills.

Homo erectus:

1. Their cranial capacity was larger and increased to about $650cc$ .
2. This cranial development led them to develop hunting skills using fire and stone tools.

Neanderthal man:

1. The cranial capacity resembled that of modern-day humans and was about $1400cc$.
2. This made them more intelligent and to communicate with each other through a syllabic language.

Homo sapiens:

1. The cranial capacity was about$1400cc$ .
2. Modern-day humans were intelligent and logical and were able to speak and communicate with each other.

Hominid species	Cranial capacity
Australopithecus	$350$ to$450cc$
Homo erectus	$900$ to $1140cc$
Neanderthal man	$1400cc$
Homo sapiens	$1400$to $1600cc$

The lifestyle of hominids:

Australopithecus:

1. They were the first ancestors of humans.
2. They resembled and behaved more like the apes.
3. They lived in caves and were able to climb trees like apes with the help of their long arms.

Homo erectus:

1. These hominids began to have features resembling modern-day humans.
2. They started to migrate to Europe and Asia from Africa.
3. They were bipedal and moved to explore more places.
4. With increased brain development, they were able to use fire and other refined stone tools for hunting.

Neanderthal man:

1. The primitive form of human-like hominids resembled modern-day humans.
2. They lived in caves and hut-like structures.
3. They used fire and tools for hunting and other daily activities.
4. They were able to cover themselves using clothing from animal hides.
5. They evolved more intelligently and were able to communicate with each other using a syllabic language.

Homo sapiens:

1. Modern-day humans were more refined than their ancestors.
2. They started to live in better housing structures than caves.
3. They began to domesticate animals and cultivate various types of crops for food.
4. These skills made them much superior to their ancestors.
5. They were much more intelligent and logical.
6. They started communicating better using speech with each other.