Rebecca+Levkowicz

Human Evolution!! Did you know that humans are closely related to chimpanzees? We shared a **//common ancestor//** with them. [|press this link to learn more about what a common ancestor is] They have evolved in the process of evolution. Evolution is the process in which **//species//** change to become more suited to their surroundings.[|press this link to find out more about a species] This process can take millions of years.

You may be wondering how we know all of this information. Scientists have been studying human evolution and have found **//fossils//** from millions of years ago and have compared them to a modern human fossil.[|press this link to find more about a fossil] We have found many similarities in the **//DNA//** and bone structure. This means we may have evolved from the same species.[|press this link to find more about DNA]

**__Primates__** A primate is a group of **//mammals//** that share some of the same features.[|press this link to find more about mammals] For instance they all have 3-D vision, which lets you see things with depth. They also all have two legs, four fingers, and a thumb. Some examples of mammals in this group are monkeys, apes, chimpanzees, humans, and lemurs. **__Hominids__** A hominid is a sub group in the primates. They all walk on two feet (//**bipedalism**//) and walk upright.[|press this link to find more about bipedalism] Scientist are constantly finding new evidence that adds on to what they already know about hominids. They have named 18 different types of hominids. Some of the earliest hominids were more human like than ape like. They were able to walk upright and had smaller faces, flatter heads, and bigger brains. The oldest hominid fossil was found in Africa and scientists think that is where they started to go through the process of evolution. //__**Australopithecines**__ // Some of the earlier hominids are put into a group called the Australopithecines. They were very similar to apes. There were some differences, such as having had larger brains, and could climb trees but also walk on two legs. They may have been able to use stone tools. A lot of the fossils of //Australopithecines// have been found in Africa. __**More human like Hominids**__  These later hominids are put into a group called Homo. They were very human like because, they had very slender bodies and had flatter faces. Their brains were larger which let them do more complex things. They were able to make some pretty incredible tools. <span style="FONT-SIZE: 150%; COLOR: rgb(255,0,149)"> Here are some pictures of some of the earlier examples of the Homo group. Homo erectus is on the left and Homo habilis is on the right. The Modern Human and our closest ancestors are in a group called Homo sapiens. The earliest Homo sapien existed 100,000 to 160,000 years ago in Africa. We are the only hominid that still exists. <span style="FONT-SIZE: 150%; COLOR: rgb(255,0,149)"><span style="COLOR: rgb(255,0,71)">Bibliography: First Picture: churchofcriticalthinking.org Second Picture: sinocanuck.com<span style="COLOR: rgb(255,53,0)"> Third Picture: www.microscopy-uk.org.uk Fourth Picture: logs.nature.com Fifth Picture: <span style="COLOR: rgb(251,19,65)">www.animalspix.com Sixth Picture: <span style="COLOR: rgb(244,6,33)">www.lysator.liu.se Sevthen Picture: upload.wikimedia.org/.../ French_cavemen_art.jpg Eighth Picture: www.handprint.com/ LS/ANC/tools2.gif Ninth Picture: blogs.discovermagazine.com/ loom/files/prevsit Tenth Picture: www.abouthumanevolution.org Book: Cells, Heredity, and Classification. Holt Science and Technology series. Holt, Rinhart, and Winston. 2007. p 148-153