Birds and Humans Through Time

The How Birds Made Us Human hypothesis suggests that birds have had a huge influence on human evolution and the development of human cultures. It is a broad idea with many possible examples that scientists are still exploring.

In 2019, Kost and Hussain described a three-part relationship between humans, birds, and the environment. They called their research area Archaeo-ornithology.

How Birds Made Us Human looks at the many ways birds may have shaped human bodies, cultures, and technologies. It brings together research from fields like Paleontology, Archaeology, Ethnography, and History.

We explore the following relationships with birds through time:

Mesozoic Birds and the Rise of Primates

Birds and mammals evolved together for over 100 million years before the first primates appeared on the scene. Often they would have shared habitats, and so birds would have interacted with our early mammal ancestors as competitors and predators. This may have ledt to many ecological and evolutionary adaptations including better vision, forward facing eyes, grasphing hands, and leaping behavior allowing early primates to better compete with birds for food including insects.

Birds and Primate Evolution

The first primates appeared either just before or soon after a huge disaster 66 million years ago that wiped out many species--including dinosaurs and most birds.

After this mass extinction, both birds and early primates survived. They sometimes competed for food, and birds may have hunted small primates. Both groups then went through rapid evolution. Birds became very successful in forests, where early primates also lived in trees.

Some primate traits may have developed because of this competition and danger. For example, primates may have evolved to be active during the day and to see in three colors. Living in groups may also have helped them find food and compete with flocks of birds in the trees.

Birds and the Rise and Evolution of Apes

About 25 million years ago, early apes began to appear. Some researchers have proposed that our early ape ancestors grew larger in size partly because they were being hunted by big birds of prey such as African Crowned Eagles.

Living with this danger may also have shaped how apes behaved. They may have started living in groups and forming stronger family bonds to stay safe. Over time, their brains also grew larger. These changes could have been a response to both hunting and competition from large predatory birds during the late Oligocene and the Miocene.

Crowned Eagle (Stephanoaetus coronatus) with prey, by Bernard DUPONT from FRANCE -  ..., CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=52230867

Birds and Early Homonids

Our Australopithecus ancestors may have changed the way they lived partly because they started scavenging more than 3 million years ago. Some scientists think they even followed vultures to find dead animals to eat.

Spending more time around birds may have led to other changes too. Early humans might have learned new tools and habits by watching birds. As they began copying how birds searched for food, they may also have copied other bird behaviors. This shift could have helped culture (learning from others) become more important than slow biological evolution.

Birds were not just helpful—they could also be dangerous. Fossils like the Taung Child show marks from eagle talons, suggesting that large birds sometimes hunted young early humans.

Birds and Early Humans

Our early human ancestors and relatives seem to continued and further developed the habit of watching and copying birds.

Some early human technologies may have come from this, such as building shelters, using fire, and developing early forms of communication that later led to language.

Several early human species spread out of Africa into other parts of the world. Archaeological evidence shows many examples of early humans interacting with birds. These include early ritual behaviors that may have led to the stronger cultural connections between humans and birds seen later.

Some areas where birds may have impacted human evolution and behavior.

Birds and Humans Cultures and Technologies

Evidence shows that our species, Homo sapiens, has existed for at least 300,000 years. By about 60,000 years ago, humans had spread into many milder parts of the world, even reaching Australia.

As humans spread, they developed many new tools and skills. The How Birds Made Us Human hypothesis is that many of these tools and skills were inspired by watching birds. These could include music, dancing, sewing, religion, farming, making pottery, and even writing.

Birds and Modern Human Technology

We still copy and learn from birds today. The Wright brothers were able to finally able to control and fly their airplane after studying how Turkey Vulture wings bend and move in the air.

More recently, engineers improved Japan’s Shinkansen bullet trains by copying nature. The train’s nose was shaped like a kingfisher beak, while owl feathers were also copied to make the trains quieter.

This kind of nature-inspired design, called biomimicry, is still used in many areas of engineering. Today, some cities are even being designed to be more bird-friendly, and this idea is shaping new urban development.

Birds and the Future of Human Nature

If the ideas behind How Birds Made Us Human are correct, then our relationship with birds has been and may continue to be an important part of what makes us human.

It may also mean that understanding and valuing these connections could help support our future well-being—both as individuals and as a society.