Question

15. The island of Flores was home to a small hominid named Homo floresiensis. This species was smaller than most hominids and isolated on the island. Describe how this species may have adapted to life on the island and provide a reasonable hypothesis regarding which known hominid they likely evolved from.  

Answer 1

How they adapted?

Because of a deep neighbouring strait, Flores remained isolated during the Wisconsin glaciation (the last glacial period), despite the low sea levels that united Sundaland. Therefore, the ancestors of H. floresiensis could only have reached the isolated island by water transport, perhaps arriving in bamboo rafts around 1 million years ago. Liang Bua Cave shows evidence of the use of fire for cooking, and bones with cut marks. The cave also yielded a great quantity of stone artefacts, mainly lithic flakes. Points, perforators, blades, and microblades were associated with remains of the extinct elephant Stegodon, and were probably hafted into barbs to sink into the elephant. This indicates the inhabitants were targeting juvenile Stegodon.

Evolution hypothesis