Reflection 4

The Human species has evolved over millions of years. The phylogenetic tree of the human species displays the species connection towards each other. There’s some species that are unknown if they have any correlations to the early human species. The tree helps me understand how the species are related, such as the Homo heidelbergensis has resulted in homo neanderthalensis to Homo sapiens.
Hominid refers to the members of the human family. The hominid species carries on from apes to humans. Fossils have helped scientists classify each human species. The fossils help identify each species from the skull to jawbones to brain size. One important and astonishing discovery was “Lucy” from the species called the Australopithicus afarensis. She was found in 1974, she proved that there was evidence of human species history. Her pelvis and hips displayed that she walked upright and not as a chimpanzee. Lucy made scientists discover more findings of the hominid evolution.
The article, African eve, describes Africa being the motherland of the human evolution. Scientists found the fossils of the Homo habilis which are associated with tools. The Homo erectus that was discovered in Africa showed they had a large skull with a big brain and walked in an upright position. About 600,000 years ago, the modern species of Homo sapiens was found in Africa. After the breakthrough of DNA, it has showed that the human species has been living in Africa longer than any other continent. This concludes that all of us humans have come from Africa. Since I was never educated about human evolution, my beliefs towards humans have formed. I never knew or would think that humans originated in Africa. The different species that have resulted in Homo sapiens showed all the transformations humans went through. Lucy `s discovery displayed an important finding in human ancestry.