Everyday, we spend quite a bit of time studying our own faces.
We meticulously apply makeup, pop those pesky pimples, and make weird faces in the mirror as we sit on the toilet (or perhaps that’s just me).
However, among all those countless hours spent studying our own reflection like a modern-day Narcissus, have we ever stopped to consider the millions of years of evolution that went into shaping that structure?
It’s hard to imagine the mind-numbing amount of time that was spent by our ancestors surviving daily life. We’re talking millions of years spent simply living in tribes, gathering nuts, reproducing, and then dying. Life was pretty dull back then. Each battle with the elements that our ancestors partook in, shaped the genetic pool edging it closer toward what modern man looks like today.
To help you wrap your head around evolution a bit better, palaeo-artist John Gurche has created this 90-second time-lapse that takes you on a visual tour of just how far we’ve come as a species.
The video was released back in 2013, and scientists have moved things around on the human family tree a little since then thanks to new discoveries, but these recreations and the impact they have is still very much as relevant as it was two years ago.
The question remains, what will be the final product 2 million years from now? It will likely be an overly friendly and insanely hot cyborg. But until that happens, entertain yourselves with this:
[Featured Image Credit: Yale Press via Youtube]