Living Environment Translated Arabic 2014 | Page 96

14.Evolution of Primates
a. Primates are an order of mammals characterized by
opposable thumbs, binocular vision, and flexible shoulder
joints.
b. Primates include monkeys, apes, and humans.
c. Hominids are human ancestors that first appeared in
Africa 4-6 million years ago.
d. Hominids in the genus Homo first used tools and had
larger brains than previous primates.
e. Homo sapiens first appeared about 400,000 years ago.
f. Cro-Magnon humans and Neanderthals coexisted in many
places until Neanderthals disappeared about 30,000 years
ago.
 Neanderthals had short, heavy bodies with thick
bones, small chins, and heavy brow ridges. Family
groups lived in caves and used stone tools to hunt
large animals. They appeared about 125,000 years
ago and disappeared about 30,000 years ago. They
are NOT considered a direct ancestor of modern
humans.
 Cro-Magnons had about the same physical
appearance as modern humans but they were
much shorter. They lived in caves, made store
carvings, and buried their dead. They first painted
bison, horses and people carrying spears. They
seem to have appeared on the earth about 40,000
years ago and disappeared about 10,000 years ago.
g. Homo sapiens looked like modern humans and are
believed to be our direct ancestors.