Hey there. They call me Paranthropus robustus. I am gonna stick to that name because my real name is pretty hard to pronounce. I have been hanging out at Drimolen for about 2 million years now and a lot has changed. I have learned a lot from listening to the paleoanthropologists around, but I can't say I agree with everything.
Don't get me wrong, I am extremely flattered to be taken so seriously and I feel very special getting my own species name (some skeletons dream of the day), but I feel kind of weird being thought of so differently than Australopithecus and Homo erectus over there. I also feel a little self conscious when they talk about my sagittal crest and my big molars. I mean, they did me justice for a long time! These insecurities are only recent, though! Back in my day (👴) we did not observe every little detail of someone and point out all the differences and similarities between us (I am sorry if this is a generalization, I don't get out much. All my social interaction is at the site). I mean sure, I knew Australopithecus and Homo erectus were a bit different. It is hard not to notice Homo erectus over there constantly doing the most, making tools, always communicating BUT we all made it work. I mean we were not the pickiest bunch and we felt more similar than we did different. No one was pointing out my sagittal crest or the brain case of Homo erectus. Communication could be hard at times, but some ended up mating. At the end of the day, we ate pretty similar things and we were all trying to survive. The climate was changing pretty rapidly and survival was on all of our minds. I honestly can't remember any time I really pointed out the features of another, but I do remember worrying about how cold it was and I know for sure I wasn't the only one.
Anyways, I don't mean to ramble, and I know many of my friends didn't survive to see the paleoanthropologists so it is hard to tell, but a lot has changed about how we see each other. A lot of interaction was not based around how we looked. There were no pictures, no Instagram, no Woman Crush Wednesday. There was also no Google Translate, although this would have made our lives much easier and I am sure much more peaceful at times, but your bones lives on and you learn, right?
Take care, see ya next time you're in the area.
love this. so creative and interesting. I like how you set this up as a sort of post written by a Paranthropus...and i laughed at the line about their real name being hard to pronounce. good job!!!!!
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