Answers to Everyday Questions : What caused the evolution of primates to modern man ?

Approximately seven million years ago, the African apes or the common ancestor of humans and chimpanzees came into being. Sahelanthropus tchadensis or the African ape diverges from the rest of the great apes, including gorillas and orangutans. They all display different forms of communication and culture not only on their own tribe. They also show empathy and suggest theory of mind. Sahelanthropus tchadensis is the oldest hominin ancestor considered related to modern human.

Around three to five million years ago, ancestors of humans evolved from chimpanzees with the species called Australopithecus afarensis. The exact timeline is a little sketchy due to the little fossil evidence of chimpanzees. It is known that they live in rainforest environment where bones are not well preserved. Our ancestors moved and began to colonize plains about three million years ago. This migration triggered adaptation such as bipedalism. The first human to walk upright are the Australopithecus.

Homo habilis are the first genus homo member who uses tools; they lived about two to three million years ago. Using a one-sided stone as a tool in almost everything, lessen the load of their teeth that made the molars shrunk. Then, the game became scarcer and the spear throwing was developed. Some homo members are forced to migrate out of Africa about two million years ago.

One of the reasons that triggered human evolution was violence and sexual selection. If a band of early humans assaulted another band, killing all males and mating with all the females, their genes carries on to the next generation. It is vital not to have an idealistic view about the evolution of man, as it is not the way things actually work. The way we eat became less specialized as well, as we adapted to make full use of both gathering and hunting to get nutrients. 250,000 years ago, Homo sapiens appeared, capable of making advance tools and axes, allowing them to survive different kinds of environments and were able to scatter across the globe.