AgeThis species lived between about 2.3 and 1.5 million years ago.

is a Latin word meaning ‘human’ or ‘man’. This is the same genus or group name as the one
What the name meansHomo,
give to modern humans and is used to show the close relationship between this species and our own.

The word habilis is based on a Latin word meaning ‘handy’ or ‘skilful’. This species known as ‘handy man’ because
stone tools were found near its fossil remains and it is assumed this species had developed the ability to modify stone
into tools.

Important fossil discoveriesThe

discovery of Homo habilis began in 1959 when two teeth were unearthed at Olduvai Gorge in
Tanzania by a team led by Louis and Mary Leakey. Parts of a boy’s skeleton were located at the site the next year
and additional fossils from other individuals continued to be found.

Their brain size, features of their hands and feet, and evidence that they may have used stone tools all suggested
that a new type of human ancestor had been found. They were officially announced as new species in 1964 but their
placement into the human genus Homo was controversial. Additional fossils, including the discovery of a partial
skeleton in 1986, have revealed that this species was more ape-like than previously believed.

Relationships with other speciesThis

species was initially considered to be a direct ancestor of modern humans but fossil
discoveries in the mid1980s showed that Homo habilis had rather ape-like limb proportions. This evidence led to a
reassessment of Homo habilis and its relationship to modern humans. Many scientists no-longer regard this species
as one of our direct ancestors and instead have moved it onto a side branch of our family tree.

The debate about Homo habilis continues following the discovery of some skulls at Dmanisi in the Republic of
Georgia. Two of the skulls are very similar to Homo ergaster but one appears to have features intermediate
between Homo habilis and Homo ergaster and may represent a link between these two species. If so, Homo
habilis may be a direct ancestor of modern humans or that they both evolved from a yet-undiscovered species. Homo
habilis arose at a time when there is a relative gap in the fossil record (between 2 and 3 million years ago). This
makes it difficult to determine where it came from or how it is related to the earlier australopithecines. More fossil
evidence is needed to resolve this issue.

Key physical featuresHomo

habilis had a larger brain than earlier human ancestors and this is reflected in significant
changes to the shape of the skull. However, many other features including limb proportions are similar to those of the
earlier australopithecine ancestors.

Body size and shape---body proportions were similar to those of australopithecines with females growing to about
110 centimetres and males to about 130 centimetres in height.

Brain---brain averaged 610 cubic centimetres in size, representing 1.7 per cent of their body weight. This was a
significant increase compared to australopithecine brains.

Skull---brain case had become fuller and more rounded due to expansion of the brain..beginnings of a slight forehead
were appearing…face had a small, arched brow ridge and was smaller and shorter than those of earlier
ancestors…hole for the spinal cord was located in the centre of the skull base, showing that this species walked on
two legs…facial projection was reduced compared with earlier species

Jaws and teeth

 jaw was smaller than those found in the earlier australopithecines

 teeth were arranged in a more rounded arc like those of modern humans
 teeth had become smaller and more human-like, although the incisors were still relatively large
Limbs

 features of the leg and foot bones indicate that this species walked on two legs.
 legs were relatively short, providing this species with arm and leg proportions that were relatively ape-like
and similar to those of the australopithecines.
  finger bones are slightly curved and intermediate in shape between the curved finger bones of quadrupedal
apes and the straight finger bones of modern humans
 finger bone proportions suggest the human-like ability to form a precision grip
Lifestyle

How they lived

Homo habilis may have been the first of our ancestors to make stone tools. This represented a significant change in
mental capabilities and a shift toward new survival strategies.

The first crude stone tools consisting of simple choppers, core tools and scrapers were made as early as 2.6 million
years ago and are classified as Mode 1 technology. It is uncertain who the makers of these earliest stone tools were.
The tool makers may have been early populations of Homo habilis or they may have been made by another species.
One such candidate is represented by the fossil AL 666-1, which has been provisionally named Homo sp. (meaning a
human whose species is currently unknown).

Mode 1 technology includes core tools, choppers and smaller flakes used as scrapers. They are often called
Oldowan stone tools as the first discoveries of these tools occurred at Oldoway (now Olduvai) Gorge, Tanzania in
east Africa. These tools were a simple progression from the use of sticks and natural, unmodified stones that our
earliest ancestors probably used. The chopping or cutting edges on Oldowan tools were created by using one stone
(the hammerstone) to strike another (the core) in order to remove one or more rock fragments (flakes).

Environment and diet

Homo habilis lived in a predominantly grassland environment. The climate was becoming cooler and drier and this
may have been the impetus for new feeding strategies that included scavenging and tool use. Chemical analysis
suggests that this species was mainly vegetarian but did include some meat in their diet.

Compared with modern Homo sapiens, which have only been around for the last
200,000 years, Homo erectus, or "upright man," had a long reign. The ancient
ancestor of modern humans lived from 2 million years ago till about 100,000 years
ago, possibly even 50,000 years ago.
Fossils of H. erectus also show that the species lived in numerous locales across the
globe, including South Africa, Kenya, Spain, China, and Java (Indonesia).
"Homo erectus spanned a large [temporal] and geographic range," said Adam Van
Arsdale, an anthropologist at Wellesley College in Massachusetts, explaining the
significance of H. erectus. "It is also important because it's the first fossil ancestral to
modern humans that, in many ways, shares a lot of its ecology."
In particular, H. erectus had a similar range of body sizes to modern humans, and it is
the first human ancestor to have similar limb and torso proportions to those seen in
modern humans. This suggests it had adapted to walking on two feet in a more open,
grassland environment, rather than swinging from tree branch to branch.
"Unlike Australopithecus fossils, Homo erectus fossils don't preserve features
related to climbing," Van Arsdale told Live Science. And similar to modern
humans, H. erectus used tools, technology and culture to hunt for and gather
food, he said.

Homo erectus was taller than earlier human ancestors.

Homo erectus also had more variation in height — with more tall and short
individuals — than more primitive humans.
Notably, some H. erectus individuals also had much larger brains than older
hominins, according to a 2013 overview of H. erectus that Van
Arsdale published in the Nature Education Knowledge Project. Specifically,
small-bodied, early H. erectus fossils have brain sizes not much bigger
than Australopithecus (an ancestor of the Homo genus), but the Nariokotome
Boy and other early large-bodied specimens have a brain volume more than
50 percent larger than Australopithecus and about 60 percent the volume of
people living today.
Those bigger brains and bodies required more food and energy to survive.
Analyses on the dental micro-wear and stable isotope chemistry of H.
erectus fossils (molecules from foodstuff naturally become incorporated into
growing teeth and bones) suggest the ancient man ate a fairly flexible and
diverse diet, which likely included a lot of animal protein, according to a 2011
review of hominin diets published in the journal Science.
Homo erectus' larger brain may explain why its apparent intelligence and why it
displays so many distinctly human behaviors. In terms of intelligence, "I don’t
think [H. erectus] would be great elementary school students if we try to put
them through our education system," Van Arsdale said. "But they were very
successful in a lot of different environments."

The lineage and evolutionary history of H. erectus and other Homo species is
unclear, and has been muddied further by recent finds.
Homo erectus was once thought to have first evolved from an earlier human
ancestor, known as Homo habilis, somewhere in East Africa. It was thought
that H. erectus then spread out to inhabit South Africa, parts of Europe (Spain
and Italy), the Caucasus, India, China, and Indonesia.
Homo sapiens, (Latin: “wise man”) the species to which all modern human beings belong

The name Homo sapiens was applied in 1758 by the father of modern biological classification
(see taxonomy), Carolus Linnaeus. It had long been known that human beings physically
resemble the primates more closely than any other known living organisms, but at the time it
was a daring act to classify human beings within the same framework used for the rest of
nature. Linnaeus, concerned exclusively with similarities in bodily structure, faced only the
problem of distinguishing H. sapiens from apes (gorillas, chimpanzees, orangutans,
and gibbons), which differ from humans in numerous bodily as well as cognitive features.
(Charles Darwin’s treatise on evolution, On the Origin of Species, would come 101 years later.)
Since Linnaeus’s time, a large fossil record has been discovered. This record contains
numerous extinct species that are much more closely related to humans than to today’s apes
and that were presumably more similar to H. sapiens behaviorally as well. Following the
ancestors of modern human beings into the distant past raises the question of what is meant by
the word human. H. sapiens is human by definition, whereas apes are not. But what of the
extinct members of the human tribe (Hominini), who were clearly not H. sapiens but were
nonetheless very much like them? There is no definitive answer to this question. Although
human evolution can be said to involve all those species more closely related to H. sapiens than
to the apes, the adjective human is usually applied only to H. sapiens and other members of the
genus Homo (e.g., H. erectus, H. habilis). Behaviorally, only H. sapiens can be said to be “fully
human,” but even the definition of H. sapiens is a matter of active debate.
Some paleoanthropologists extend the span of this species far back into time to include many
anatomically distinctive fossils that others prefer to allocate to several different extinct species.
In contrast, a majority of paleoanthropologists, wishing to bring the study of hominins into line
with that of other mammals, prefer to assign to H. sapiens only those fossil forms that fall within
the anatomic spectrum of the species as it exists today. In this sense, H. sapiens is very recent,
having originated in Africa more than 315,000 years ago (315 kya).

 Homo habilis– He had a face similar to his ancestors. The skull and brain size indicate that he may have been
able to speak. The earliest tools made were from this era. Homo habilis is known as the ‘handy man’ because
he was the first to make and use tools. He was around 5 feet tall and erect.

 Homo erectus– after Homo habilis came, the Homo erectus who was also upright. He had a smaller but longer
face, less prominent or absent chin, larger brain size and prominent speech. He knew how to make and use
tools, he made a fire and knew how to control it. Homo erectus was carnivorous. He knew the existence of
groups and they began spreading from Africa to Asia and Europe. The Java Man and Peking Man had brain
capacities similar to modern man at 1300cc. They were cave dwellers.

Homo sapiens– After Homo erectus came, the Homo sapiens who separated into two types: 1) Homo
sapiens neanderthelensis

They had a brain size larger than modern man and were gigantic in size. Also, they had a large head and jaw
and were very powerful and muscular. They were carnivores and the tools from the era indicate they were
hunters. They were also cave dwellers but their caves were more comfortable and they lived in groups and
hunted for food gathering.

2) Homo sapiens sapiens

Also known as ‘modern-day man’ is what we are today. Compared to the Homo sapiens neanderthelensis,
they became smaller in size and the brain size reduced to 1300cc. There was also a reduction in the size of the
jaw, rounding of the skull and chin. Cro- Magnon was the earliest of the Homo sapiens. They spread wider
from to Europe, Australia, and the Americas. They were omnivores, had skilful hands, developed the power
of thinking, producing art, more sophisticated tools and sentiments.

Evolution is not a thing of the past and is continuing even now. Humans are undergoing ‘natural selection’
for many different traits based on their life and environment in the present. It is believed that the jaw size is
reducing further and the wisdom teeth are soon going to become extinct.