Hominidae: Quick Facts

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Facts

Also Known As	hominid

Photos

Bornean orangutan (Pongo pygmaeus)

Bonobo ape with one arm raised, gazing at the camera.

A western lowland gorilla (Gorilla gorilla gorilla) sits among dense green foliage in a tropical rainforest in the Central African Republic.

Diagram tracing the evolutionary split of humans, chimpanzees, bonobos, and gorillas over the past 12 million years, with skull illustrations for key hominin species and African great apes, and branching lines showing divergence points.

Illustration showing side-by-side reconstructions of five hominins in the human lineage: Australopithecus afarensis, Homo habilis, Homo erectus, Homo neanderthalensis, and Homo sapiens, with each figure labeled and depicted in a walking pose to highlight evolutionary changes in posture and body structure. A scale bar at the top right indicates relative height.

Map of Ethiopia highlighting new hominin fossil sites in the Middle Awash region. An inset shows the locations of Ardipithecus and Australopithecus fossil discoveries near the Awash River and Yardi Lake, marked with colored dots. Surrounding countries and major cities in Ethiopia are also labeled.

A diagram showing the tentative evolutionary relationships among hominid species over the past four million years, with skull images and labeled species names connected by solid and dotted lines to indicate proposed evolutionary pathways.

Diagram showing the increase in hominid cranial capacity over time with illustrations of skulls from various species, including Australopithecus, Homo habilis, Homo erectus, Homo heidelbergensis, Homo neanderthalensis, and Homo sapiens, arranged along a timeline and brain volume scale for comparison.

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Topics

Australopithecus Ardipithecus Paranthropus Orrorin Ponginae Homininae Kenyanthropus Boskop skull Pithecanthropus Australopithecus sediba gibbon How Do Monkeys and Apes Trim Their Fingernails?What’s the Difference Between Monkeys and Apes?Why do apes live in groups?

Key People

Marcellin Boule

Marcellin Boule

French geologist

The bearded vulture (Gypaetus barbatus) is seen in Switzerland on December 2024

Animal Factoids

Young chimpanzee dressed in a shirt and sweater vest, scratching his head thinking. (primates)

Wild Words from the Animal Kingdom Vocabulary Quiz

Lion (panthera leo)

Deadliest Animals Quiz

Mute swan with cygnet. (birds)

Match the Baby Animal to Its Mama Quiz

Sea otter (Enhydra lutris), also called great sea otter, rare, completely marine otter of the northern Pacific, usually found in kelp beds. Floats on back. Looks like sea otter laughing. saltwater otters

Animal Group Names