Humans are bipedal primates belonging to the species Homo sapiens in Hominidae, the great ape family. Compared to other species,
humans have a highly developed brain, capable of abstract reasoning, language, introspection and problem solving. This mental
capability, combined with an erect body carriage that frees the arms for manipulating objects, has allowed humans to make
far greater use of tools than any other species.
The Hominidae (anglicized Hominids, also known as great apes) form a taxonomic family, including four extant genera: chimpanzees,
gorillas, humans and orangutans. A number of known extinct genera are grouped with humans in the Hominina subtribe, others
with orangutans in the Ponginae subtribe. The most recent common ancestor of the Hominidae lived some 13 million years ago,
when the ancestors of the orangutans speciated from the ancestors of the other three genera.
New World monkeys are the five families of primates that are found in Central and South America: Callitrichidae, Cebidae,
Aotidae, Pitheciidae, and Atelidae. The five families are ranked together as the Platyrrhini infraorder and the Ceboidea superfamily,
which are essentially synonymous since Ceboidea is the only living platyrrhine superfamily. They differ from other groupings
of monkeys and primates, such as the Old World monkeys and the apes.
Homo erectus is an extinct species of the genus Homo, which originated in Africa and to have spread as far as China and Java.
Amongst scientists it is uncontroversially considered to be a direct ancestor of modern humans. H. erectus originally migrated
from Africa during the Early Pleistocene, possibly as a result of the operation of the Saharan pump, around 2.0 million years
ago, and dispersed throughout much of the Old World.
Homo is the genus that includes modern humans and their close relatives. The genus is estimated to be about 2.5 million years
old, evolving from Australopithecine ancestors with the appearance of Homo habilis. Appearance of Homo coincides with the
first evidence of stone tools, and thus by definition with the beginning of the Lower Paleolithic. All species except Homo
sapiens (modern humans) are extinct.
Catarrhini is a parvorder of the Primates, one of the three major divisions of the suborder Haplorrhini. It contains the Old
World monkeys and the apes (superfamily Hominoidea). The latter is further divided into the lesser apes (family Hylobatidae),
consisting of the gibbons; and the hominids or great apes (family Hominidae), consisting of the orangutans, gorillas, chimpanzees,
and humans.
