early humans
early humansMembers of the family Hominidae, including our own species Homo sapiens, our presumed forebears Homo erectus and Homo habilis, and forms believed to be closely related called collectively the australopithecines. Many scientists now also include the African great apes – the two chimpanzees and gorilla – in the human family, rather than grouping them with the more distantly related Asian apes. The traditional way of grouping the large apes (chimpanzees, gorilla, and orang-utan) is in their own family, Pongidae. Estimates of the date of divergence of the ape and human lineages vary. The Asian apes probably branched off 8–12 million years ago and the African apes 10–5 million years ago. The stages of development in which humans diverged from ape-like ancestors and took on their present form took at least five million years. Many details remain uncertain, particularly of the...
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