Hominids are the Great Apes, including humans, chimpanzees, gorillas, and orangutans. They are intelligent, social, and have been present on Earth for about 7 million years. Hominids use simple tools and are largely vegetarians. Studies of hominid fossils have provided useful information about their relationships.
Hominids are the biological family of which humans are members. Informally, they are known as the Great Apes and include four genera: humans, chimpanzees, gorillas and orangutans. Hominids can be divided into two subfamilies, Ponginae, which includes orangutans (Pongo), and Hominae, which includes gorillas (Gorilla), chimpanzees (Pan), and humans and their close extinct relatives such as Neanderthals (Homo). The definition of “hominid” has changed several times in the past: at one point it referred only to humans and our close extinct relatives, and this old definition sometimes persists to the present day. “Hominid” means “man-like”.
Hominids, especially humans, can be considered the most intelligent biological family on the planet. The products of human intelligence are ubiquitous and quite amazing – the computer you’re using to read this, for example – while the signs of intelligence in other animals are more subtle. At least one gorilla, Koko, has been taught to use a rudimentary form of sign language.
Hominids have been present on Earth for about 7 million years. About six million years ago, the lineage that gave rise to man split from chimpanzees. In order of genetic relatedness to humans: chimpanzees are closest, followed by gorillas, then orangutans. All hominids have at least 97% genetic similarity to modern humans.
Hominids live in social groups and some use simple tools, such as sticks, to catch insects. Other than a subgroup of humans, hominids are largely vegetarians. Hominids are intelligent enough that there is an ethics movement to grant them personality, called the Great Ape Project. No one has proven or disproven that hominids, other than adult humans, have a theory of mind or are capable of empathic deception.
Studies of hominid fossils, such as Australopithecus ‘Lucy’, have shed light on a huge amount of useful information about the relationships between different genera of the hominin family. Some extinct hominin species include Gigantopithecus, Sivapithecus, Lufengpithecus, Ankarapithecus, Paranthropus, and Ouranopithecus.
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