Human evolution is the evolutionary process within the history of primates that led to the emergence of Homo sapiens as a distinct species of the hominid family that includes all the great apes.[1] This process involved the gradual development of traits such as human bipedalism, dexterity, and complex language,[2] as well as interbreeding with other hominins (a tribe of the African hominid subfamily),[3] indicating that human evolution was not linear but weblike.[4][5][6][7] The study of the origins of humans, variously known by the terms anthropogeny, anthropogenesis, or anthropogony, involves several scientific disciplines, including physical and evolutionary anthropology, paleontology, and genetics.[8][9]
Primates diverged from other mammals about 85 million years ago (mya), in the Late Cretaceous period, with their earliest fossils appearing over 55 mya, during the Paleocene.[10] Primates produced successive clades leading to the ape superfamily, which gave rise to the hominid and the gibbon families; these diverged some 15–20 mya. African and Asian hominids (including orangutans) diverged about 14 mya. Hominins (including the Australopithecine and Panina subtribes) parted from the Gorillini tribe (gorillas) between 8 and 9 mya; Australopithecine (including the extinct biped ancestors of humans) separated from the Pan genus (containing chimpanzees and bonobos) 4–7 mya.[11] The Homo genus is evidenced by the appearance of H. habilis over 2 mya,[a] while anatomically modern humans emerged in Africa approximately 300,000 years ago.
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