I have received reputable reports from the Department of Redundancy Department that this long post is long—over 4000 words, in point of fact.
> Human evolution is a topic that interests not just researchers specialized in paleoanthropology, but also other scientists and the general public. A number of conflicting hypotheses have been put forward to explain why humans have become strikingly different from other primates. Most scientists in relevant fields (such as paleoanthropology, paleontology, ecology, evolution and human biology) have never published their views on the drivers of human evolution in general, nor on which of the proposed hypotheses on the origin of specific human traits they find most substantiated. No recent summary of the mainstream view among paleoanthropologists has been published either, so there is uncertainty as to whether scientists agree on the driving forces behind human evolution or not.
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> A survey was performed using an online form in early 2013. […] The focus was on journals of paleontology, zoology, ecology, evolutionary biology, and human biology. [...] The survey was performed anonymously, and all who responded did so voluntarily. After a few reminders had been sent, a total of 1,266 persons had submitted their responses to the survey.
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> The main results of our survey can be summarized as follows:
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> (1) There was no general agreement among the respondents on why any of the uniquely human traits have evolved: None of the proposed hypotheses was universally either accepted or rejected.
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> (2) For any individual trait, the percentage of respondents who found none of the hypotheses “very likely” was between >30% (bipedalism) and >65% (nakedness).
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> (3) In general, opinions on the credibility of the hypotheses were independent of a person’s background (gender, age, field of expertise, degree of scientific experience), but (paleo)anthropologists were clearly more critical than representatives of other fiel