Pierolapithecus catalaunicus is thought to be a common ancestor of humans and the other great apes, or at least a species that brings us closer to a common ancestor than any previous fossil discovery.

Part of Hall of Human Origins. The chimpanzee and bonobo are humans' closest living relatives. These three species look alike in many ways, both in body and behavior. But for a clear understanding of how closely they are related, scientists compare their DNA, an essential molecule that's the instruction manual for building each species.

It’s generally agreed that Homo erectus can be described as an ancestor of modern humans, though exactly how it’s related is strongly debated. Until the 2010s, it was thought that Homo erectus was the ancestor of Homo heidelbergensis , which in turn was the common ancestor of both Homo sapiens and our closest relatives the Neanderthals.

2012年6月13日 · Ever since researchers sequenced the chimp genome in 2005, they have known that humans share about 99% of our DNA with chimpanzees, making them our closest living relatives. But there are actually two species of apes that are this closely related to humans: bonobos (Pan paniscus) and the common chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes). This has prompted ...

Among the great apes, our closest relatives are the chimpanzees and bonobos (Figure 1). The fossil record, along with studies of human and ape DNA, indicate that humans shared a common...

2021年2月2日 · To understand how Homo sapiens eventually evolved from these older lineages of hominins, the group including modern humans and our closest extinct relatives and ancestors, scientists are...

2025年2月10日 · Understanding the hominid phylogenetic tree is crucial for unraveling the evolutionary history of humans and their closest relatives. This field draws on fossil evidence and genetic research to piece together how different species are related and when they diverged from common ancestors. Recent advances in technology have significantly enhanced ...

Our Human Evolution gallery explores the origins of Homo sapiens, tracing our lineage since it split from that of our closest living relatives, the chimpanzee and the bonobo. Gallery developer Jenny Wong tells us more.

2025年1月31日 · Our early human ancestor was capable of running, if slowly, a new study finds. By Franz Lidz More than three million years after her death, the early human ancestor known as Lucy is still ...

2025年1月14日 · A timelapse of John Gurche's months-long process of creating a human ancestor. Video by Mark Thiessen. Paleoart breathes life into scientific discoveries, giving us a rare glimpse into prehistoric ...