1_THE HUMAN SPECIES
WHO ARE WE? WHERE DO WE COME FROM?
Human beings share their DNA with all living being on Earth: more than 30% with plants, 70% with corals, and up to 99% with certain great apes. Humans are primate that belongs to the same family as the great apes : the hominids.
The oldest known primates date back 55 million years: they lived in Africa and evolved into various species. Among them, around 12 million years ago, we find common ancestors to gorillas, chimpanzees and humans. What were they like ? We don't know.
What we do know is that more than 7 million years ago, the human lineage (Hominina) separated from that of chimpanzees (Panina). Gradually, our ancestors developed several unique characteristics, such as bipedalism, an increased skull size and the use of complex tools.
However, human evolution is not linear, but a multi-branched bush. What relationships existed between Australopithecus, Paranthropus, Homo erectus, Neanderthals and Homo sapiens ? What role did Pierrette, the Neanderthal from Saint-Césaire, play ?
And where do we, Homo sapiens, fit into this story ?
