Name My Mouse!

 Meet the last member of Team Kilimanjaro. I'd like to introduce you but unfortunately our new friend doesn't have a a name yet. I was introduced to this little chap(ess?) by Lauren, Hedgerows for Dormice Mapping Officer, but she is not saying how she came by the dormouse. Don't worry Lauren I won't report you to Natural England!

Since we are travelling to great heights together, my new friend needs a name, I'd very much like to hear your suggestions! And if you feel like leaving a small gift to cover his food and water (and a porter for his luggage), all the better.

8 Days to Go!

Went to the Gower, South Wales this weekend with Shep and Fi in Fi's folks Peugeot Boxer Camper Van (thanks Anne and Michael!). We had some great walks along fantastic limestone cliffs and across wide sandy beaches littered with shells of all shapes and size- mussels, whelks, oysters, razors, top shells.

I've been worried about my ankle since I strained it in training and had to pull out of my 10km run earlier in the summer, but I'm pleased to say that it seems much better. I've bought some orthotic inserts on advise from the physio which have given the right ankle- the problem one- much more support. Its stiff and can get sore but not painful, so I think all will be well. It certainly coped fine with walks every day few this past week, albeit with the aid of a walking pole but of course I plan to have these on Kili.

We went to visit the Goats Hole (above) where the Red Lady of Paviland was discovered by William Buckland back in the mid 19th Century. As a creationist Buckland believed nothing could predate the biblical flood and thought that the Red Lady- a complete skeleton dyed in Red Ochre and accompanied by decorative items, including perforated seashell necklaces and ivory jewelry- dated back to the Roma Era.

Recent evidence however has shown the Lady to infact be a man of around 21 years of age and to date from around 29,000 years BP in the Upper Paleolithic.  The remains are of cro-magnon man, and early fom of Homo sapiens. Whilst Goats Hole is currebtly on the cost, at the time of burial the cave would have been about 70km inland.

Being a man who enjoys the sensation of falling that accompanies this type of incredible evidence for the ever-changing nature of the earth and its inhabitants (oh for a time machine....), I thought I would share a few facts about the ancestry of our species and mull over our african origins in the light of which all notions of racial or national divisons should crumble to dust.

• The most complete ancient hominin (human-like) skeleton, from 4.4 million years ago, was Ardipithecus ramidus, or Ardi, uncovered in Ethiopia. Ardi had a brain and body the size of a chimpanzee's as well as some human-like features such as the small canine teeth and flexible hands and wrists.
• Perhaps the most famous skeleton of an early human relative belonged to the 3.2 million-year-old 'Lucy', Australopithecus afarensis, uncovered in 1974 inthe Afar region of Ethiopia.
• Homo habilis lived from about 2.4 to 1.4 Mya. The first species of the genus Homo, H. habilis evolved in South and East Africa in the late Pliocene or early Pleistocene,when it diverged from the Australopithecines. Homo habilis had smaller molars and larger brains than the Australopithecines, and made tools from stone and perhaps animal bones. One of the first known hominids, it was nicknamed 'handy man' due to its association with stone tools.
•  In the early Pleistocene, 1.5–1 Mya, in Africa, Asia, and Europe, some populations of Homo habilis are thought to have evolved larger brains and made more elaborate stone tools; these differences and others are sufficient for anthropologists to classify them as a new species, Homo erectus. In addition Homo erectus was the first human ancestor to walk truly upright. This was made possible by the evolution of locking knees and a different location of the foramen magnum (the hole in the skull where the spine enters). They may have used fire to cook their meat.
• The dominant view among scientists concerning the origin of anatomically modern humans is the "Out of Africa" or recent African origin hypothesis,which argues that Homo sapiens arose in Africa and migrated out of the continent around 50,000 to 100,000 years ago, replacing populations of Homo erectus in Asia and Homo neanderthalensis in Europe. Scientists supporting the alternative multiregional hypothesis argue that Homo sapiens evolved as geographically separate but interbreeding populations stemming from a worldwide migration of Homo erectus out of Africa nearly 2.5 million years ago.

(Derived from websites of the Natural History Museum,Wikipedia and The Smithsonian Institute)

Fascinating stuff eh? If I don't have a very nasty headache in two weeks time, you can bet I will be perched atop Kilimanjaro contemplating our ancient origins. It fascinates me to think about the ecological and evolutionary processes that have shaped humans-and all life for that matter- and continue to do so today. There is so much beauty and splendour in it that I wonder why anyone still needs the comfort of other-world explanations about the origins of life.