Ask the Chatbot Games & Quizzes History & Society Science & Tech Biographies Animals & Nature Geography & Travel Arts & Culture ProCon Money Videos
human being
Introduction References & Edit History Quick Facts & Related Topics
Images & Videos
Vintage anatomy chart showing front and back views of the human skeletal system and muscular system, with detailed illustrations of bones and muscles.
The video thumbnail image shows two black and white photos of monkey and ape heads, surrounded by blue and pink circles.
Illustration of a nude adult male human (Homo sapiens) walking, shown in profile, with a scale bar indicating 40 centimeters or 12 inches for size reference. embryos of different animals Side-by-side anatomical illustrations compare the bones of a primitive carpus and a human carpus, highlighting the carpal, metacarpal, and phalange bones in different colors, with labels for each bone group. human and gorilla hands compared 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. A chart compares the maximum life spans of various animals, using icons and color coding for mammals, birds, other vertebrates, and invertebrates. Lifespans range from the mayfly at less than a year to the Greenland shark at 500 years, with humans, elephants, whales, birds, and reptiles shown at various points along the timeline. Measurement intervals are marked in years, with a key at the bottom explaining the color categories. Illustration comparing the body plans of representative anthropoids, showing a male western lowland gorilla, a male human, a male bonobo, a female Bornean orangutan, and male and female northern white-cheeked gibbons, all labeled and depicted to scale.
Quizzes
Giraffe standing in grass, Kenya.
Know Your Mammals Quiz

human being: References & Edit History

Article Contributors

Primary Contributors

  • The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
    Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree. They write new content and verify and edit content received from contributors.

Other Encyclopedia Britannica Contributors

Article History

Type Description Contributor Date
Modified link of Web site: National Center for Biotechnology Information - PubMed Central - One Biology and the Status of Humans. Jul 22, 2026
Add new Web site: BBC Earth - What does it mean to be human? Apr 14, 2025
Media added. Oct 04, 2024
Add new Web site: Frontiers - Agency: What Does It Mean to Be a Human Being? Apr 16, 2024
Add new Web site: Princeton University - When Do Human Beings Begin? Jan 23, 2024
Add new Web site: Arizona State University - Ask A Biologist - How are humans different from other animals? Sep 04, 2023
Add new Web site: Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy - Human Nature. Jun 27, 2023
Add new Web site: Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History - Human Characteristics: What Does it Mean to be Human. May 16, 2023
Links added. Feb 13, 2023
Link added. Feb 10, 2023
Add new Web site: Cleveland Clinic - Genetic Mutations in Humans. Jan 08, 2023
Add new Web site: National Center For Biotechnological Information - PubMed Central - Biological Races in Humans. Nov 29, 2022
Add new Web site: National Center for Biotechnology Information - PubMed Central - One Biology and the Status of Humans. Aug 17, 2022
Add new Web site: The Catholic Encyclopedia - Man. Feb 02, 2018
Media added. Sep 18, 2017
Media added. Feb 24, 2017
Media added. Feb 17, 2017
Definition changed to include all members of genus Homo; timing of last common ancestor uniting human and chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes) lineages changed to "between seven million and six million years ago." Jan 18, 2016
Add new Web site: Kidipede Science for Kids - Humans. Nov 20, 2014
Add new Web site: The Catholic Encyclopedia - Man. Dec 14, 2012
Added new Web site: Animal Planet - Human Being. May 28, 2008
Added new Web site: How Stuff Works - Animals - Why do Humans Walk on Two Legs? May 28, 2008
Added new Web site: Catholic Encyclopedia - Man.
  • Gaurav Shukla
 Jun 07, 2007
Article revised. Feb 16, 2006
Article revised. Nov 03, 2000
Article added to new online database. Jul 20, 1998
View Changes:
Article History
Revised:
By: