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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Nellisir" data-source="post: 6205761" data-attributes="member: 70">As mustrum points out, a lot of that can be attributed to over-specialization.  That is...not really a problem for us.Humans have one special adaptation.  We have big brains that let us talk to one another.  We use that talking to transmit knowledge on how to make things.  The things we make either adapt us to an environment, or adapt an environment to us.Humans and closely related species (Homo erectus, Homo neanderthalensis, Homo sapiens idaltu, Homo heidelbergensis, Homo floresiensis, Homo denisovan) were all capable of surviving outside of Africa, sometimes in extremely adverse environments.  Homo erectus likely used fire as long as 1 million years ago.  Sapiens, neandertals, denisovans, and floresiens almost certainly all used clothing.  Homo erectus as a species lasted more than 1.5 million years.I think more often what happens is a generalized species (ie homo erectus) eventually becomes either a more advanced generalized species (heidelbergensis) and/or more specialized species (neandertals, denisovans?).  Specialized species are vulnerable to habitat loss & competition; generalized species are not optimal at utilizing their environments and, while having a wider range, lack the numbers of more specialized species (ie herds of bison, antelope, etc, etc.)  The original species is seen to have "gone extinct", but that's only true in the sense that your great-great-grandparents have "gone extinct".</blockquote>

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