Malte+Heissel

....................................__Human Evolution__................................................. I think everybody knows who his parents were. Usually you also know who your grandparents were. Possibly some of you even know your great grandparents. But do you know who came before them.

Scientists are people who try to understand all these things. They discovered that we humans are one of the youngest races of earth. They think we are about 6-30 million years old. That, you might think is a huge period of time. Yes, it is but only for humans. There were many species before us. Some of you might think then that we evolved from monkeys or apes. This isn't true. To be specific, we share a common ancestor. This means that there was a species we and monkeys and apes evolved from. Now, you could think scientists made this up. This is wrong. They found fossils that support their theory (in Science a theory is an accepted idea). If you want to see a short video about this you can go to:

Watch with Quick Time: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/evolution/library/11/2/quicktime/e_s_5_100.html Watch with RealPlayer: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/evolution/library/11/2/real/e_s_5.html

If you don't have either of those players but you still want to watch this video go to: http://www.apple.com/quicktime/download/ and follow the instructions.

But what makes us so special? Why are we building big things, flying in airplanes, even exploring the space. We are classified as primates a group of mammals that also includes apes, monkeys and lemurs. www.great-apes.comwww.indyzoo.com-animals.nationalgeographic.com __Important words:__
 * common ancestor**: The organism a species evolved from.
 * fossil**: A trace that remains from an organism very often found in sedimentary rock.
 * primates**: A type of mammal that has opposable thumbs and binocular vision

//__What you need to know__!// Humans are classified as primates, a group of species that includes apes, monkeys and lemurs. We __didn't__ evolve from monkeys or apes or lemurs but we share a common ancestor.

If you want to learn more about our earliest ancestors and want to know when they lived go to this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zohMSNpW91k&feature=related

Also you can see a timeline on this page: http://wilderdom.com/images/evolution/evolutionchart.gif

The closest living animal to us is a chimpanzee which is a type of ape. 30 million years ago the ancestor of humans, chimpanzees, other kinds of apes, monkeys and lemurs began to evolve in different ways. We are in a family called hominids. If you don't understand, primates are very different and can be put into many other separate families. One of these is called hominids. Scientists have found at least 18 types of hominids. Fossils are classified as hominids when they share some of the characteristics of modern humans. The most important of these characteristics is that they walk upright on two feet.

Other of these characteristics are larger brains, smaller teeth, flatter faces, and larger brains. The oldest fossil with some of those characteristics were found in Africa, so scientists think that our earliest ancestors came from Africa.

Not a long time ago two new types of hominids appeared. Both had very large brains and made tools like clothing and art.

The first one was called //Neanderthals// who lived mostly in Europe. They may have appeared about 230,000 years ago. 30,000 years ago they became extinct. ......... www.cosmosmagazine.com--- www.nri.ucsb.edu

The second one was called Homo sapiens. That is a weird name you might think, but in fact these Homo sapiens were early humans. They created art and had an organized society.

__Important words__:
 * hominids**: A type of primate. Their characteristics are long lower limbs, lack of a tail, and walking upright on two feet.
 * extinct**: When a species is extinct every organism of the species is dead and it won't appear anymore.
 * Homo sapiens**: A species that includes modern humans and their closest ancestors. It first appeared 100,000-160,000 years ago.

//__What you need to know__!// We are in the family of hominids which are a type of primates. Our most important characteristics are large brains and upright walking. Homo sapiens are a species of hominids and includes us and our closest ancestors. They were early humans.

__**Bibliografy:**__ Cells, Heredity, and Classification. Holt Science and Technology Series. Holt, Rinehart and Winston. 2007. p 108-114.

PBS.org. //Did Humans evolve//? 10/22/08. www.pbs.org/wgbh/evolution/library/11/2/quicktime/e_s_5_100.html