This environmental change is believed to have forced hominins to evolve for life in a savannah-type environment. Some data suggest that this environmental change caused the development of modern homimin features; however there exist other data that show that morphological changes in the earliest hominins occurred while the region was still forested.
This environmental shift is believed to have forced hominins to adapt to a savanna-like environment. While some evidence suggests it led to the development of modern hominin traits, others suggest that these changes happened before the region transitioned into a more open landscape.