 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
|
|
 • Basic Overview
The Age of Humans
The human story begins with primates—you are a primate. Primates are mammals that evolved special features for life in trees. These features include grasping hands and feet, forward facing eyes, and large brains relative to their body size—traits that you, as a primate, also possess. Fossil primates first appear early in the Tertiary Period about 55 million years ago.
Your nearest primate relatives are apes.
Apes have been around for some 25 million years. They are primates that have certain features setting them apart from other primates, such as monkeys and lemurs.
 Apes don’t have tails, for one thing. Apes also have very mobile hip and shoulder joints that allow them to hang, swing, walk, and move in ways other primates cannot. Humans share these same traits with apes.
You belong to the primate group called hominids.
Hominids evolved from an ape ancestor. This hominid group includes not only modern humans, but also many other hominid species that once lived on Earth. The first hominids appeared some eight million years ago.
The hominid story is still being written.
There are gaps in the fossil record, and many fossils are fragmentary. But each new discovery brings us closer to a clear picture of hominid evolution.
Though this emerging picture can be controversial, scientists agree on two key points:
 |
Hominids evolved from an ape ancestor.
|
|
Hominids evolved through the same unpredictable process as every other living thing.
|
Continue to Identifying Hominids. >>
|
|
|
|
|
|
