Primate Order Anamalia, Vertebrata, Chordata, Mammalia

Primate Classification Primates – monkeys, lemurs, gorillas, chimps, humans, etc.

Primates cont. Family Hominoidea (hominid)– great apes (gorilla, orangutans, chimps & bonobos), humans (living and extinct) Hominins – chimps, bonobos, and humans (living and extinct) Genus Homo – the humans

Primates hair or fur warm-blooded live young suckle infant dependence social life play observation and imitation pecking order Common Primate Traits

Primate Family Tree Crown lemur Orangutan

Ardipithecus genus 1 st homonims? Africa (Ethiopia) 6 mya – 4 mya teeth more similar to hominins than chimps probably not bipedal lived in woodlands and grasslands

Australopithecus genus 4 mya – 2 mya throughout E Africa ate fruits, vegetables & tubers small brain but likely bipedal not tool users evolved into Homo habilis

Hominin Evolution Homo habilis (2.0 – 1.6mya) H. erectus (1.9-70kyBP) H. neanderthalensis ( kyBP) H. sapiens (200kyBP – present) ~ 20 different homo species Scale: Millions of Years BP

Hominid Evolution

Homo habilis: mya Artist’s representation of a Homo habilis band as it might have existed two million years ago. first humans In Africa toolmaker probable meat-eater possibly arboreal (woodlands) no speech

Homo erectus 1.8 mya to yrs BP evolved in Africa and migrated to Asia bigger brains more complex tools walked completely upright lived in small groups (bands) fire cooked meat used furs language unlikely may have made sounds possibly wiped out by Toba supereruption? (~ yrs BP in Indonesia)

Homo neandertalensis – yrs BP Europe massive brains (as large or larger than ours) large torso, short limbs, broad nasal passages carnivores, adapted to cold climates co-existed with homo sapiens DNA testing shows human DNA contains 4-5% Neandertal DNA

Homo sapiens Archaic – 200,000 to 35,000 years BP Homo sapiens Modern – 35,000 years BP to present Anatomically modern Homo sapiens sapiens

Modern Homo Sapiens Multiregional Model Humans evolved more or less simultaneously across the entire Old World from several ancestral populations. Rapid-Replacement Model (Out of Africa) Humans evolved only once--in Africa --and then migrated throughout the Europe and Asia, replacing their ancestors mDNA evidence supports this

Out of Africa JOURNEY OF MANKIND - The Peopling of the World The Real Eve DVD