Name: How Different Are You From Ancient Humans?
Uploaded: 2017-01-15T18:17:05.000Z
Duration: 3 min 24 s
Description: Thousands of YouTube videos with English-Chinese subtitles! Now you can learn to understand native speakers, expand your vocabulary, and improve your pronunciation...

Adverbs of degree

Human evolution is incredibly complicated.

Adverbs of manner

Around 6 to 8 million years ago, a common ancestor we share with chimps diverged genetically,

with one lineage eventually giving rise to modern day humans.

The path to Homo sapiens is far from straightforward and there are a lot of early-human ancestors

But what were some of them like and how did humans get to where they are?

Let’s start off with one of the most famous human-like groups: the Australopithecus.

These small-brained creatures are thought to be closely related to, if not actual ancestors

Certain species, like Australopithecus afarensis, lived in eastern Africa around 3 to 4 million

years ago, walked upright on two legs, and had ape-like faces.

They also had strong arms and curved fingers perfect for climbing trees, making them like

the short human-slash-ape version of Tarzan -- but without the long, glorious hair.

Next up is the species Homo habilis, which lived around 2.4 to 1.4 million years ago,

As we mentioned in a previous video, their name means “handy man” and they were able

They also have ape-like features, but with smaller teeth and faces, but larger skulls

And based on fossil evidence, scientists believe that Homo habilis may have coexisted with

another species of early humans, Homo erectus, for almost half a million years.

Speaking of Homo erectus, they had the most human-like body proportions out of all the

species we’ve discussed so far, making them better equipped for life on the ground instead

And they were quite the travelers, expanding their reach to beyond just Africa and into

They lived between 1.9 million years ago and about 140,000 years ago, and during this time,

they made improvements to their tools and used fires to cook food, which also conveniently

Boy, do I love living in a house where those things can’t get me now.

And of course, we have the Neanderthals -- our closest extinct human relative.

They lived between 300,000 and 30,000 years ago and are known for their large, receding

They were also short and stocky, which was an evolutionary adaptation to the cold conditions

And like modern humans, they buried their dead.

And interestingly, when modern humans first started moving out of Africa at least 60,000

years ago, they met with Neanderthals and mated with them.

But the Neanderthals didn’t just stop there -- they also interbred with another species

Modern humans did this too, which is why some present-day people have some Denisovan DNA.

But what else did Homo sapiens do besides interbreeding?

Well, as they experienced changing climates and moved across the globe, they continued

They had larger brains than their early ancestors, which they needed in order to deal with the

growing complexity of their tools, culture, and language.

They developed agriculture and improved on their technology, which eventually led to

the creation of everything we have today.

Needless to say, it will be very interesting to see where the future of human evolution

takes this species, seeing how much change there has already been.

Make sure you come back every Monday for a brand new video.

As always, I’m Blocko and this has been Life Noggin.