Many early human species - certainly the majority of them – left no living descendants.
Scientists do not all agree, however, about how these species are related or which ones simply died out.
Most scientists currently recognize some 15 to 20 different species of early humans. The fossils of early humans who lived between 6 and 2 million years ago come entirely from Africa. Humans first evolved in Africa, and much of human evolution occurred on that continent. Humans and the great apes (large apes) of Africa - chimpanzees (including bonobos, or so-called “pygmy chimpanzees”) and gorillas - share a common ancestor that lived between 8 and 6 million years ago. Physical and genetic similarities show that the modern human species, Homo sapiens, has a very close relationship to another group of primate species, the apes. Many advanced traits - including complex symbolic expression, art, and elaborate cultural diversity - emerged mainly during the past 100,000 years. Other important human characteristics - such as a large and complex brain, the ability to make and use tools, and the capacity for language - developed more recently. One of the earliest defining human traits, bipedalism - the ability to walk on two legs - evolved over 4 million years ago. Scientific evidence shows that the physical and behavioral traits shared by all people originated from apelike ancestors and evolved over a period of approximately six million years. Human evolution is the lengthy process of change by which people originated from apelike ancestors. Science, Religion, Evolution and Creationism: Primer.Members Thoughts on Science, Religion & Human Origins (video).Teaching Evolution through Human Examples.Digital Archive of Ungulate and Carnivore Dentition.Adventures in the Rift Valley: Interactive.Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History The Smithsonian Institution's Human Origins Program Main Menu
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