Charles Darwin argues that all species are related to one another and they belong to the same vast family tree. As such, all living organisms have a common ancestry.  Humans’ immediate evolutionary family belongs to primates, lesser apes known as hominids.  Hominids area type of species on the same family tree of hominids, however, the family tree broke to the chimpanzee and bonobo and inclusive of all the extinct species.  Evidence on the existence of the hominids is plenty and can be sourced from the late African Miocene.  Hominids of this period display typical features like those of human beings, however, the shared characteristics are not presented in other living apes.  The oldest hominid is known as Sahelanthropus tchadensis and Orrorin tugenensis from Chad and Kenya respectively.  Sahelanthropusdates back to about 6 or 7 mya, is for having a complete skull, and possess fragmentary remains.  Sahelanthropus has a brain capacity of 360, and the range is within those of the chimpanzee.

The earliest of all known hominid is Ardipithecus ramidus which dates back to about 4.4 million years ago and is from Ethiopia. Ardipithecus ramidus is known for having a complete skeleton and a range of dental and skeletal remains. Ardipithecus ramidus has reduced canines that share features with those of the Orrorin and Sahelanthropus.  Orrorin and Sahelanthropus skull displays ape-like features and resembles Sahelanthropus, a type of chimpanzee with 300-350cc brain capacity. The hominids had great brain capacity, and they developed various arts that were critical in supporting their life. They developed the stone technology that could help them in hunting wild animals for food and developed stone caves for their shelter. The development of such techniques evolved to sophisticated systems to neural structures that enhanced perception, memory and imitation techniques and the capability to predict other animals’ behavior.

Do you need an Original High Quality Academic Custom Essay?