The article tells about who the hominids are, what primates are included in this family, about their evolution and excavations of the remains.
Ancient times
Life on our planet has existed for more than 3 billion years. During this time, many biological species changed on it, part was destroyed, another evolved or entered a dead-end branch of development and disappeared. But the greatest interest, of course, is our ancestors - hominids. This is a family of the most developed primates and apes, some of them exist to this day. These include orangutans, chimpanzees, gorillas and subspecies listed. And also man, the pinnacle of the evolution of primates. So who are they, how are they different from the rest, and why did our ancestors evolve into people? This we will understand.
Our ancestors
Hominids are a family that, in addition to existing primates, includes another 22 extinct species. In fact, there are several more, but these are only those who are included in the pedigree of the modern intelligent man. Among them were the most diverse representatives of ancient bipedal monkeys, but, as time has shown, the most successful subspecies was Homo Sapiens. And the most famous and more or less well-studied hominids are Neanderthal (caveman), Pithecanthropus, homo erectus and homo habilis - upright and skillful, respectively.
Unlike other primates
The first and most important is, of course, upright posture. There are several plausible theories why our ancestors preferred this method of transportation, but about them a little lower. And be that as it may, this gave a serious impetus to the evolution and development of a person, because the upper limbs (hands) became free, and they began to use them for various types of activities: manufacturing tools, traps, etc. The hominids understood and actively began to take advantage of other relatives.
The second difference is brain size and intelligence. But it is worth mentioning that the relationship between these two facts is not very big, but there is still. Our more intelligent ancestors realized the benefits of a collective form of survival and interaction, in addition, a large brain requires a lot of calories, and you can’t get enough with ordinary roots, you need meat. And to get it alone is difficult, and therefore, it is wiser to unite for hunting in groups. As you can see, nothing passes without a trace in evolution.
The hominid family, by the way, until recently included only man and his immediate ancestors, omitting the living developed primates. But most biologists do not agree with this, and now it includes, as already mentioned, gorillas, chimpanzees and orangutans with subspecies.
Reasons for “humanization”
To this day, disputes do not cease to this day, new hypotheses and theories are born. Most of them, fortunately, are eliminated due to their insolvency, but there are several most reasonable assumptions why the ancient hominids developed while other mammals remained animals.
For example, paleanthropologist Alexander Markov in the first part of his two-volume book “Human evolution. Monkeys, bones, and genes ”provides the following assumptions. Unfortunately, they are too extensive, and we will analyze two - about upright posture and general social development.
According to the first, at a time when our ancestors steadily settled in forests on the borders with steppes and savannahs, there was a need to be able to climb trees, hiding from predators and getting food. This was the reason for the development of the upper limbs. And then they began to use their hands as a way to carry away more booty. After all, the more often you give a female, the more favorable she is. But you also have to leave yourself so as not to be hungry ...
The next important stage of such a phenomenon as the evolution of hominids is associated with the emergence of families and monogamy. Let's look at the wild society of monkeys, where the harem system reigns. At the top of the leader, he must constantly assert his dominance, and the rest always fight for females, and there can be no talk of any interaction and friendship.
But with monogamy, everything changes! There is no need for eternal rivalry between members of the pack, because even the most "ugly" found a pair. And the lack of enmity strengthened ties, because if you unite, hunting is much more productive, raids on neighboring tribes, and even food production in general. So, you will become more successful neighbors and leave more offspring. And the latter, by the way, is a very important factor.
In the harem system, monkeys often kill children in order to mate with the female again. And with monogamy, they grow quietly. And it is scientifically proven - the more carefree childhood in an animal or human, the more savvy it grows. But you should not confuse infantilism.
Fossil hominids
The remains of our ancestors survived in one state or another depending on the era, and, unfortunately, most often the finds are limited to two or three bones, of which gradually make up the whole skeleton. The process is painstaking, and new technologies for determining the age, what our ancestors ate, and other things allow us to look into the past.