human SURVIVAL in the savannah needs explaining, not survival of chimps in the forest

 Its too easy today, with chimps outnumbered by humans 32,000 to one, to unconsciously confuse the power relationship between the many tree-dwelling species and the single human species at the time of our split with the chimp 5 million years ago. 

Tree dwelling forest lifestyles was and remain a major and successful ecological option for life forms. 

It was our lifestyle that was the odd one, whatever form it took. We do know that for a very long time, we had the anatomical choice to go back in the forest and swing from trees and presumably somewhat successfully interbred with chimps and bonobos, our closest cousins. 

But at some point not long after the split, we came to think of chimps as food, enemies, aliens not sex mates or hunting partners. Or perhaps chimps first saw us that way, while we retained warm feelings for them. 

And while we frequently slipped back into the forest for food and shelter, we never did decide to remain there. 

And our numbers remained small for a very long time, small in absolute numbers and in relationship to other single species and obviously small in relationship to all other megafauna roughly our size. 

Whatever ecological niche we tried to fill, it didnt seem popular enough to attract other beings. But still we preferred to tough it out in an unfamiliar scary environment rather than slip back with the majority of our kind, back in the forest. 

We couldnt fight our new environment like the lions, and we choose not to flee it like the chimps, instead we sought to gradually control it - eventually with tools and fire and social cohesion.

We were literally the Odd Man Out…

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