Question about evolution

[rexbeccarox]

If those things didn't happen, they didn't happen. I'm not sure what "would" and "should" have to do with it...

[Exian]

I think continental drift plays a part in why we find certain animals in areas from earlier times, while humans came from Africa relatively early and had to actually migrate to the America's, rather than evolve there.

[vorlon13]

There have been primates in South America for a very long time.

[Alex K]

If you want a category as wide as "Bears" in the strict sense, it includes us and all the other Great Apes, so "we" have made it all the way to Asia and the Pacific.

[cocunningham]

Well one thing you have to remember there isn't a standard rate of dispersion or expansion of individual species. These are impacted by availability of food, presence of predators, climate, and generic driven tendencies. To really understand why/how a species expanded in a certain way you really need to look at each individual and their environment at that time.

[ignoramus]

There are many fantastic YouTube docos on the early earth!
Watch 'em!   Everything will fall into place...

[IATIA]

I guess what I am not understanding, is how hominids have been around for millions of years and were always more intelligent but only managed to stay in a relatively smaller area. How did our primate ancestors make it to the americas 50 million years ago, bears about 38 mya, or the cougars 8 mya? But humans entered the americas about 13500 years ago. Shouldn't the trend be that even the earliest hominids would have migrated in similar patterns? Wouldn't logic suggest that we should find some kind of hominid in the americas? I hope every knows that I ask with the sincere idea of learning the answers to my question. 

IMHO, the ability to control their environment made it less necessary to migrate, at least initially. Other animals might control miles of territory and relocation was necessary to acquire new lands, whereas hominids might have been less territorial and were happy sharing the same land and working together against the forces of nature.

[orogenicman]

I guess what I am not understanding, is how hominids have been around for millions of years and were always more intelligent but only managed to stay in a relatively smaller area. How did our primate ancestors make it to the americas 50 million years ago, bears about 38 mya, or the cougars 8 mya? But humans entered the americas about 13500 years ago. Shouldn't the trend be that even the earliest hominids would have migrated in similar patterns? Wouldn't logic suggest that we should find some kind of hominid in the americas? I hope every knows that I ask with the sincere idea of learning the answers to my question. 

The first primates apparently evolved in China more than 55 million years ago.  But primates almost as old at those have been found in Mississippi.  The ancestors of many North American species made their way hear from Asia via the Bering Sea region.  Marsupials evolved over 125 million years ago in China, and spread from there.  Hominids, as has been pointed out, have not been around all that long.  As for how long humans have been in the western hemisphere, he is an article that should catch you up on the current thinking:

http://csfa.tamu.edu/who.php

[robvalue]

Would it be reasonable to say there may be as yet undiscovered independently evolved humanoids? Or have we explored the world so thoroughly now as to pretty much discount this? (I'm talking about just on earth).

[Won2blv]

Would it be reasonable to say there may be as yet undiscovered independently evolved humanoids? Or have we explored the world so thoroughly now as to pretty much discount this? (I'm talking about just on earth).

Yeah thats fair. I am starting to think that what is more likely, is the fact that they were more evolved. So they didn't have as much need to migrate. They could make better due with there surroundings. Someone mentioned that they could control the climate, I don't know about that but I see an advantage to being able to have stable living condition. And besides, who wouldn't want to live in Europe. 

I'm still stumped on why a higher intelligence animal didn't evolve in the americas. I know that its not impossible that one didn't. It just seems that following the patterns of other animal lines seems to suggest animals evolved in their own unique way but also with some kind of uniformity. I know thats probably not exactly correct but I guess what I am saying is that bears, for example, seem to be unique whether or not you're in south america, north america or asia. However, they're all so similar to a point where you can quickly identify them as a bear. Even though Koala's are sometimes erroneously called, "koala bears" they are clearly not related closely like a black bear or a speckled bear in peru. So that begs the question for me, how come there wasn't an offshoot of Lucies that made it to even eastern china or canada? Perhaps we just haven't found the fossils yet but the evidence seems to suggest that early hominids evolved in that one general area. 

Also just a random thought, its crazy that fundamentalist claim that all humans can be linked back to adam and eve. But an evolutionist (which is a word and proper term) believes that all living organisms, humans, animals, trees, viruses, etc go back to a single one celled ancestor. Kind of cool