First Man Page #3

---

on the other side of the hill.

The three males of the group are very excited.

There under the large fig tree,

another group of Toumai.

The first time they've seen them.

Two very enticing females.

They have been eating overripe figs

and are now drunk.

This group have come here for the fermented fruits

that rot on the ground.

The alpha wants the females.

He wants what he sees.

But they belong to other males.

And he's an absolute giant.

What can he do?

A cunning plan is formulating

inside the alpha's head.

A previously unimagined idea.

An idea that will make us the most dangerous

predator on the planet.

The idea is to kill.

Killing one's own species.

Killing with premeditation in an organized way.

Killing to take the goods of others.

The Toumai have just invented war.

They have conquered a new territory.

And with it, a tree full of fruit

and a few females.

War has its advantages.

From now on, the alpha group

will occupy this land.

The young female still has a worrying

connection to her infant.

She is refusing to accept reality,

because reality has become unbearable.

The infant is motionless,

but his body is still there.

What is it that lives in us

and vanishes so suddenly?

Toumai are starting to understand

the concept of death, the loss of life,

the loss of a being.

They know that their own lives will end.

Faced with suffering and confusion,

they gather around the body

of the departed friend.

Gathering, the feeling of being in a group,

united in space and time.

The beginning of a ritual,

a first funeral ceremony.

For many years, we believed that awareness

of death made us human.

Not anymore.

Today we know that we share this knowledge

with many other species, including chimpanzees.

Awareness of the passage of time

is a huge leap forward in our family history.

Five million years ago Africa began to dry out.

The great forests of the Sahara

receded and placed pressure on

the descendants of the Toumai.

They separate into several families,

some evolve along the lines of

the chimpanzees and gorillas.

They abandon bipedalism and invent a new way

of getting around on four feet.

Others evolve along the line of humans.

They are spread throughout Africa,

especially in the east.

Here we find the great family of Australopithecus.

Between four and two million years ago,

there is a great diaspora.

Afarensis,

able,

africanus, Kenyanthropus,

anamensis,

garhi.

Around two million years ago,

a new character appeared in South Africa.

He would go on to radically alter our history.

We named him sediba.

Is he an Australopithecus or the first man?

That question hasn't been solved.

Sediba lived in the south

of the African continent.

Drought increasingly affects this part of Africa,

and will play a considerable role

in the development of our ancestors.

Despite spending the majority

of their time on the ground,

sediba are still dependent on the trees,

the only protection from the man-eating beasts

that roam the land at that time.

They never stray too far.

The dry season is at its peak.

There's no more fruit on the trees.

The only food is underground.

Roots and bulbs are difficult to find

and dig out of the ground,

and they need a lot of chewing

before they can be swallowed.

But that's all there is.

Hours are spent chewing this tough food.

This young male is still part of the group,

though he has no female.

The females now live in harem with

the strongest males.

These two females are part of the alpha's harem.

When a carcass is left by the larger predators,

there's only enough for the alpha and his females.

A few bones to suck,

but only the strongest have access.

That's why the females have

accepted this new arrangement.

Less power for more protection.

Sediba don't live very long.

This old female can no longer chew.

The marrow is all she can swallow.

The alpha doesn't share with the others.

The old female would already be dead

without the young male.

By chewing her food, he keeps her alive.

Empathy at work again.

This extreme scarcity of food is driving

out our species to extinction.

If they don't find an alternative,

they will all die.

They must adapt.

Fortunately, sediba possesses

a highly developed brain

and an array of tools and techniques.

Inside the brain of one of them,

a revolutionary idea is taking shape.

If the meat won't come to them,

they will have to go to it.

Over there.

The alpha's female wants to take the risk.

The young male is ready to.

None before them have tried this.

Against the wishes of the alpha,

they will attempt the impossible.

How could they be so foolish?

Neither of them has never

been so far from the trees.

The desire to eat meat outweighs the dangers

of the savanna.

The brave ones that took this reckless decision

could not have known the profound effect

it would have on the history of our species.

A fresh carcass.

An abundance of meat.

They've never seen so much.

The first pieces they choose

are those that contain fat, the tastiest.

Fat is so rare in nature,

and yet so rich in energy,

and important for the

digestion of animal proteins.

The sediba pick out the parts

that contain the most.

The marrow, the entrails,

the brain, the tongue, the eyes.

The two explorers are back,

their arms laden with the most wonderful food.

Food for everyone.

What a success.

A solution for the future of the species?

But the alpha is not ready

to digest this humiliation.

The female is part of his harem.

She has betrayed him.

Sometimes the females do swap males,

but a possessive alpha like him

can't lose one of his females.

It's a threat to his power.

The young male can do nothing.

Here might is right.

He humiliates her in front of everyone,

punishes her and isolates here from the others.

The old female has nothing to lose.

She's the only one that can come to her help.

The harshness of this life

does not favor the females.

They have lost a lot of their power

to the benefit of the large males.

The first effects of the meat are immediate.

It's easier to digest than roots

and the body feels lighter.

Meat gives the sensation of well-being

and a sounder sleep.

The second effect will take hundreds

of thousands of years.

Less energy consumed by the stomach

means more energy for the brain.

Thanks to that, our mental capacity will

improve and our bodies become taller and slimmer.

Although physical force still dominates,

it won't be enough to adapt.

A new generation is coming

whose ingenuity will prove the decisive advantage.

Sediba already use rocks to break and crush roots.

But he has a new thought.

The young male has an idea

that could change their lives.

Maybe even the future of his species.

If he can cut the carcasses of animals

killed by predators into smaller pieces,

they can carry them to a safe place.

If it works, they will have

provisions for several days.

For this they will need a range of new tools

Rate this script:0.0 / 0 votes