Evolution - Sister to Sister

The origin of males

On March 27, I wrote that females were created before males. I was surprised at the number of people that do not know the origin of the species, all species.

Most people know that life began as one cell creatures and replicated by mitosis or cell division. But apparently do not know that the cells were all X chromosomes, or female. At first it was one mother cell that grew and split into two daughter cells. Over time the one cell grew but stayed together. As the cell clumps grew larger and larger, the cells became a blob. This worked pretty good but there was no diversity in the daughter cells.

Diversity means that some were a little different and will survive when the environment changed. While the organism were growing, some exchanged cells and diversity happened. Different species were created and the second sex was created from damaged X chromosomes. When the second sex was created, the multiplying began in earnest.

When a baby is conceived, it goes through every step of evolution beginning with a single cell - the egg. The sperm enters the egg and makes a few changes. If the sperm is an X sperm, the egg continues to be all X chromosomes, or a female. DNA from the X sperm makes some changes in what will be a little girl.

If the sperm is a Y sperm, there are a lot of changes made. That Y sperm has to make a girl into a boy and only has a month to do it. First, it strips away half of the double helix and replaces it with a small amount of Y DNA that will initially change what is the developing ovaries into testes and drops them lower in the body. Once the testes are up and running, they take over and pump testosterone into the little boy to be. In nine months, it is now a fully developed boy with nipples to remind him that he started out a girl.

Females have X chromosomes. Males are mostly X chromosomes with some Y chromosomes added. All species were created the same way humans were created. All species started out female.

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.