top of food chain - blog - Sister to Sister

January 18, 2019, The real, and surprising reasons, we are at the top of the food chain.

Plants have brain cells of a sort, but no real brain center.  They do not need brains.  They have roots and thus no options of moving. Brains originally developed in order to control movement and avoid danger.

As movement became more complex, brains became more complex. Walking on four legs is easy.  Little balancing is involved. But two legs are harder and require a lot more brain power.  A useful side effect of primitive brains is, as they grew larger, they were able to actively think and make decisions and plans beyond just movement.  

Birds have the most condensed, powerful brain.  Not only do they have to balance on two legs, they also have to fly with two wings. Flying requires a more versatile brain than walking. Pound for pound, birds are very smart.  Or rather ounce for ounce. Their brains have to be light weight for flight so bird brains are more condensed and limited in size.

Our early ancestors lopped on four legs (two legs and two hands). There is a theory that explains why they learned to walk on two legs. Groups of early humanoids lived by the ocean. In the shallows, there was ample opportunity to harvest food. And this ocean food was rich in the same oils that the brain is actually made of.

Harvesting from the ocean required standing upright to keep one's head above water. Since bodies contain a lot of fat and some air, it was not hard to stand up in water.   

Standing upright increases a person's range of movement, reach and sight. Standing upright worked well on dry land once balance was mastered. Walkin­g on land caused the brain to grow larger because more brain cells were needed for balancing.

Because our vocal chords were equipped to make a large number of sounds, we developed complex speech which forced our brains to grow even larger.

Although, science has discovered that all animals have some form of speach, a combination of sound and hand/body movements, humans have the most complex speech and the largest, most complex brain. And it all started with two feet. It is our two feet that allowed us to become the top of the food chain.