1. The Hominids
SBI3U Biology

2. Who are we?
A very successful branch of the primate family tree.

3. A family tree that’s still being worked out...
Hominid Phylogeny
A family tree that’s still being worked out...

4. … so many fossils, so many interpretations!!!
Hominid Phylogeny
… so many fossils, so many interpretations!!!

5. So, why us?
Unlike most organisms, Humans are found everywhere on the planet, in a variety of ecosystems, including desert & arctic.
Our species is not the biggest, fastest, or fiercest thing on the planet…
But it’s the brainiest & handiest.
SNC1D Science

6. An Apposable Thumb
Tool making led to better use of resources, enhanced nutrition & survival, increased fertility & better brain development

7. A highly developed Brain
Planning, Learning, Complex Thought, Memory & Language expanded our species’ use of resources, contributing to our success

8. And a few other added features:
Bipedalism is a human plesiomorphy.
Binocular, colour vision is a primate plesiomorphy.

9. Hominid Evolution… NOT!
We have a long history of misunderstanding.

10. Hominid Evolution… NOT!
So let’s try to get a more accurate picture than this!

11. Australopithecines The first human-like creatures
East Africa, Great Rift Valley
4 mya – 1.5 mya for various species
Several branches: Robust vs. Gracile Types
Gracile gave rise to the genus Homo
A. Africanus or A. Afarensis – ancestors?
Transition from forest to grassland habitats
Primarily herbivorous omnivores
Scavenged; more often prey than predator

12. Australopithecines

13. Australopithecines

14. Homo Habilis The first member of our genus East Africa, Olduvai Gorge
2.5 mya – 1.5 mya
“Handy Man” – habilis means ‘able’
A tool user, and a limited tool maker
Simple, clunky Core Tools
This is progress! Australopithecines didn’t make any, although they may have used objects from nature as tools.
Still on the menu for a lot of species!

15. Homo Habilis

16. Homo Habilis

17. Homo Habilis

18. Homo Ergaster Homo Erectus The first hominids to migrate
African populations: H. Ergaster
Other populations: H. Erectus
2 mya – 1.5 mya
“Upright Man” – at time of discovery, thought to be first to walk bipedally. Wrong! That was much earlier…
A better tool maker, although still all Core Type tools
Figures out how to use FIRE!

19. H. Ergaster/Erectus

20. H. Ergaster/Erectus

21. H. Ergaster/Erectus

22. H. Ergaster/Erectus

23. Homo Heidelbergensis A relative newcomer to the phylogeny
Ancestor to two important branches of the Genus Homo: ours and the neanderthal branch
Named for location of first fossil discovery
1 mya – 0.5 mya

24. Homo Heidelbergensis

25. Homo Neanderthalensis
A much-maligned cousin, misunderstood
Considered to be their own branch
A human that coexisted with our own species
Named for location of first fossil discovery
230 kya – 30 kya
Ice Age survivors: stocky build, possibly the first to have two new traits: red hair, blue eyes
Show signs of culture: burial of dead, Cave Bear Cult, musical instruments
Refined tools: Flake tools, not just core

26. Homo Neanderthalensis

27. Homo Neanderthalensis

28. Homo Neanderthalensis

29. Homo Sapiens That’s us… “Knowing Man”
The dominant mammal on the planet today
Originate 60 – 140 kya… but where?
Prolific tool kit, and ART!
Out of Africa model vs. Multiregional Model
Largest brain of all hominids: we have a forehead, which means we have a bigger Frontal Lobe in our brain
This is the site of our rational thought, self-awareness, learning, personality, morality.
We also got a chin along the way 

30. Homo Sapiens

31. Homo Sapiens

32. Homo Sapiens

33. Homo Sapiens