People are complex animals who navigate the world on two feet, have advanced thoughts and form varied social groups. The species we all belong to is Homo sapiens, and to understand this specialised taxonomic group we’ve evolved into, we need to look back at more than 20 hominid species that form our family tree. Homo sapiens evolved from these species over millions of years, and since the first Homo sapiens emerged around 300,000 years ago in Africa, our lives and characteristics have adapted to new circumstances.
One of the oldest early human. This species was about the same size as a chimpanzee and would climb trees to get around its habitat in Eastern Africa. When the fossils of were discovered in Kenya in 2001, the upper femur had skeletal similarities to typical upright-walking humans. Its features were more ape-like than human, but it was evidence of one of the first species that combined the ability to climb and walk.
