Brain capacity and diet of Homo habilis, Homo erectus and Neanderthals, my table keeps mixing them up
Lakshmi TripathiDropper Sample
13 Oct 2026 · 1 min read
I read slowly, so I've gone through "Origin and Evolution of Man" three times, and I still muddle the facts. I'm trying to build one table in chronological order and I'd like to check it.
My notes:
- Dryopithecus and Ramapithecus: hairy, walked like gorillas and chimps. One was more man-like, the other more ape-like. Which is which?
- Australopithecines: about 2 million years back, East Africa, grasslands. Ate fruits? Used weapons?
- Homo habilis: first human-like being, brain 650 to 800 cc. Did it eat meat?
- Homo erectus: about 1.5 million years ago, brain around 900 cc. Meat?
- Neanderthals: brain 1400 cc. Used hides? Buried their dead?
- Homo sapiens: when did modern humans appear and when did cave art and agriculture begin?
Please check the numbers and fill the gaps. I know it's a lot of small facts but this is a recurring 1-2 marks in NEET.
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[+][–]Siddharth RaoDropperSample· 6d ago
Cleaned up version:
Form Approx. time / place Brain Notes Dryopithecus, Ramapithecus early, hairy, walked like gorilla/chimp n/a Ramapithecus more man-like, Dryopithecus more ape-like Australopithecus ~2 mya, East African grasslands smaller essentially ate fruit, probably hunted with stone weapons Homo habilis first human-like 650 to 800 cc probably did not eat meat Homo erectus ~1.5 mya ~900 cc probably ate meat Neanderthal 1,00,000 to 40,000 years back ~1400 cc used hides, buried dead Homo sapiens arose in Africa, spread [+][–]Mehak AroraDropperSample· 6d ago
For diet I just remember "habilis = handy man, a meat eater who used tools". Erectus was a bigger-brain meat eater (900 cc), Neanderthal had the biggest brain of the three at 1400 cc. Mnemonic with the numbers: 650-800, 900, 1400 going up.
[+][–]Rahul DubeyDropperSample· 6d ago
Mehak, careful, NCERT says Homo habilis probably did not eat meat (that one's a favourite in assertion-type MCQs because it feels like "handy man hunted"). It's erectus that probably ate meat. Same chronological order though, habilis → erectus → Neanderthal → sapiens with brain size rising.
[+][–]Lakshmi TripathiDropperSample· 6d agoAuthor
oh good catch rahul, I'd put "meat" next to habilis in my table too. Fixing now
[+][–]Mehak AroraDropperSample· 6d ago
yes sorry I wrote that from memory, thanks for the fix rahul bhaiya
[+][–]Kavya NaikDropperSample· 6d ago
Remaining gaps: Neanderthals lived in near East and Central Asia, between 1,00,000 and 40,000 years back, used hides to protect their body and buried their dead. Modern Homo sapiens arose in Africa and moved across continents and developed into distinct races; they appeared about 75,000 to 10,000 years ago. Pre-historic cave art is about 18,000 years old. Agriculture started around 10,000 years back and human settlements began.
[+][–]Ishita GoyalDropperSample· 6d ago
Just a thought on "Australopithecus": NCERT describes them as living in East African grasslands and they hunted with stone weapons but essentially ate fruit. So don't pick "only meat" in any option. And the timing: Dryopithecus/Ramapithecus were before Australopithecus (the earliest of this series). My little order trick: DryRamas Australia Habil Erect Neand Sapiens = "D-R-A-H-E-N-S".
