Approximately 20 to 15 million years ago, hominids began to roam the savannah in search of food: here the selective pressure favored those individuals able to stand on hind legs allowing them, for example, to spot a predator in advance. They learned to catch, carry, choose plants and food and observe nature. The first known species of the genus Homo is Homo habilis (about 2 ma). Homo habilis is considered a true man for his manual dexterity: he used rudimentary tools for hunting. Evolution comes with Homo erectus (around 1 to 1.5 ma). The erectus has standing posture and has a greater intellectual capacity The oldest species that we know is “ australopithecus”: which almost certainly lived for at least 3 million years, until they extincted about 1 million years ago. Australopithecuses were not capable of making tools, but used stones to strike and break, they also lived in groups, hunted small animals and collected eggs and seeds.

In 1871 I published “The Descent of Man”, and “Selection in Relation to Sex”, which outlined the origins of humans- their development, their anatomy, their variation, and, most importantly to me, the mystery of their profound intelligence. I was the first scientist to suggest publicly that humans had evolved from other animals, but I was the first to couch this idea in terms of sexual selection. Sexual selection is, very simply, the same thing as natural selection, but members of the opposite sex are acting as selective agents instead of the environment. Well…so… Charles do you really think that we all descend from this..this..creature? Uhm! Uga uga! I’m not a creature, I’m an APE!

Monkeys, who were more advanced than other animals with physical characteristics similar to those of nowadays humans, Probably evolved in time until they took on human intellectual and physiological features. Of course the process was random, due to adaptation reasons. Only some apes evolved and acquired some techniques without which they would not be able to perform certain activities. Hominids acquired a standing position, their brain developed and they managed to use their hands to grasp objects, collect food and hunt. Only through long processes of evolution have we reached what we are today!