Who's Who Among the Early Hominids

Who's Who Among the Early Humans?
By: Randall Susman
From: Odyssey Adventure in Science

Early humans are usually called "ape-men" because they share the same features as an ape and a human. Before we became human we had to go through many different changes. We had to evolve to adapt to our surroundings. There were many different hominids because they were all in different parts of the world and the world has many different physical features so wherever they were they had to evolve to adapt.
Sahelanthropus tchadensis was discoverd in 2001 it is 6-7 million years old. But it has more of an ape skull than a human skull so we think that it might be closer to apes than humans. Orrorin tugensis was first found in Kenya it is 6.1 and 5.8 million years old. By limb bones it shows that it climbed trees but it was still bipedal. Ardipithecus known as the found ape is, 4.4 million years old and was first found in Ethiopia 1994. It had small molar teeth and large front teeth. Paranthropus who is similar to man, had a large jaw, and there teeth shows that they had large chewing muscles they were very robust. It was also bipedal but it spent more time on the ground then A.afarensis and A. africanus. By studying the hands and feet of Paranthropus we can see that it mainly ate plants. But if you look at Australopithecus you can see it ate plants and meat. In South Africa in a lime stone cave they have frond Paranthropus fossils. Also by looking at their hands we can see that they could have made tools. Kenyapithecus platyops was first found in 2001 Northern Kenya but the skull is broken into many pieces. Their skull is similar to Homo rudolfensis skull.

Early Homo the earliest fossil found in East and South Africa. Had a large brain but small teeth and face. They also used simple tools. Homo Erectus known as the upright man so they were more advanced. Found in Africa, Europe , and Asia. They had a big brain but small mouth they had a thick skull bones, they were taller and heavier. They had round heads more like humans. Where Homo Erectus sites were they also found remains of elephant, horses, and hippo bones that shows that they hunted the also learned how to make fire. Homo Habilis known as the handy man also had a large brain. They had human feature in there hands and feet. They were bipedal and used tools. They were also tree climbers they usually climbed trees to sleep, escape danger, and forage food. Archaeologist have also found animal remains where the Homo Habilis were. Homo rudolfensis were around the same time as Homo Habilis. Big brain and flat face and cheek bones. Their molars and pre molars are bigger than Homo Habilis. Home georgicus close to Homo Habilis in brain size. 4 skeletons from Dmanisi show the differnce between the male and female. Homo floresiensis they were discovered on a island of Flores in Indonesia. There are not many of them. The most complet skeleton that archaeologist have found is female and 3 feet and 6 inches. And lastly Homo Neanderthalensis who mostly lived in Europe and Central Asia. Livid from 250,000 to 30,000 years ago. They had sophisticated stone tools. Had robust skeletons body size was equal to modern human.