Evolution of Primates Chapter 6, Section 3
Primates Group of mammals including humans, monkeys, and apes.
Characteristics of Primates Opposable Thumb Allows grasping Binocular Vision Allows depth perception Flexible shoulders and rotating forelimbs
2 Major Groups of Primates Prosimians Includes lemurs and tarsiers Anthropoids Includes monkeys, apes, and humans
Hominids Humanlike primates Appeared between 4 and 6 million years ago
Characteristics of Hominids Ate both meat and plants Walked upright on two legs Shared characteristics with gorillas, orangutans, and chimpanzees Had a larger brain than apes
Early Hominids Early 1920’s a skull with a small brain case but humanlike jaws and teeth was found in South Africa named Australopithecus One of the oldest hominids discovered
Early Hominids 1974 an almost complete Australopithecus skeleton was found in northern Africa named Lucy Indicated that Lucy walked upright
Early Humans Homo habilis Found in Africa in the 1960’s Even more similar to modern humans Also found simple tools Estimated to be 1.5 to 2 million years old Thought to be an early human ancestor
Early Humans Homo erectus Thought to be a descendant of homo habilis Thought to live 1.6 million years ago Had a larger brain than homo habilis Thought to have traveled from Africa to Southeast Asia, China, and possibly Europe
Humans Homo sapiens Evolved about 400,000 years ago
Humans Neanderthals Lived about 125,000 years ago Physical characteristics: short, thick bones, small chins, heavy browridges Lived in family groups in caves and hunted large animals with stone tools. Disappeared from the fossil record about 30,000 years ago. May have been a side branch on the human evolution tree
Humans Co-Magnon Humans Lived from about 10,000 to about 40,000 years ago. Lived in Europe, Asia, and Australia Physically resembled modern humans Lived in caves, made stone carvings and cave drawings, and buried their dead Thought to be the direct ancestor of early humans, Homo sapiens.
Humans Modern species: Homo sapiens sapiens