Homo sapiens

Human
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Scientific classification
Kingdom Information
Kingdom	Animalia
Phylum Information
Phylum	Chordata
Sub-phylum	Vertebrate
Class Information
Class	Mammalia
Order Information
Order	Primate
Family Information
Family	Hominidae
Genus Information
Genus	homo
Species Information
Species	sapiens
Population statistics

Humans, or human beings, are classified by biologists as Homo sapiens, from the Latin homo meaning "man", and sapiens meaning "wise",. Modern humans, along with Cro-Magnon man, are more specifically classified as homo sapiens sapiens.

Humans inhabit every continent including Antarctica, with a total population of over 6.5 billion as of 2007.

Although animals which could be considered human have existed for about 2 million years, modern humans did not form until around 100,000 years ago in Africa. Once they evolved into their modern form, Homo sapiens replaced other species of human in Asia (Homo erectus) and Europe (Homo neanderthalensis).

Characteristics

Humans have great intellectual abilities such as abstract reasoning, language, and introspection. This mental capability, combined with a body suitable for standing erect such that their upper limbs are free to manipulating objects, allows humans to make far greater use of tools than any other species. The design of the larynx gives a physiological capacity for speech. Consciousness is of unknown source; speculations include being an emergent property of a complex brain and the mind existing independently of the body.

Humans have more hair follicles than chimpanzees, one of the next most similar species, but shorter finer hair in most body areas makes this hard to see. Hair and skin color varies according to the amount of melanin, a pigment that helps protect skin from the sun. Originally an adaptation to climate, pigment variation is now found globally.

Tool use

Because humans are bipeds with opposable thumbs, they can create tools more skillfully than other species. Humans inhabit almost all areas of the planet, using technology to overcome inhospitable environments. They are the only species to deliberately control fire to cook food.

Human thirst for knowledge and tool-building capacity has led to many ways of investigating and exploring the universe and culture. These include the scientific method, philosophy, art, and literature.

Social organization

Human self-expression has led to complex competitive and co-operative social groups. Some groups are based around abstract symbols or arbitrary land divisions associated with group history, others around perceived genetic or philosophical differences. Humans may belong to several groups simultaneously. Competition for resources plus greed leads to wars, and the human capacity for tool-building to improved technology with which to fight them.

Longevity

Humans in modern times have been known to live to ages of just over 100 years, although much greater ages have been recorded in the distant past. According to the Bible, pre-flood people sometimes lived for over 900 years. According to certain Creationist and Jewish views, God subsequently limited the lifespan of man to 120 years. (Genesis 6:3 and the lifespan of Moses in Deuteronomy 34:7 ), although other creationists believe that Genesis 6:3 is not referring to an age limit for humans. Some creationists have postulated that the pre-flood earth had climatic conditions unlike those found today. The flood may have been the first rain on earth, while previous to the flood, water was received by a constant mist or fog that covered the land. This mist would have blocked out most ultraviolet radiation which would have dramatically reduced cell damage and greatly lengthened life span. This post-Flood climate change may also explain the apparent great extinction of dinosaurs, pterosaurs, and other creatures after the flood. However, most creationists have since dropped this idea.

The oldest human ever authenticated in modern times was Jeanne Calment of France who lived 122 years and 164 days.

The Origins of Man according to Evolutionary Biologists and Anthropologists

In more recent times evolutionary biologists and other scientists in the fields of biology and more specifically, anthropology, have postulated that humans have been around in anatomically modern form for approximately 130,000 years. One version of this theory maintains that Homo sapiens evolved from Homo ergaster or Homo erectus, and from other earlier primates. Humans' closest living relative is the chimpanzee. However, despite sharing 98.4% of their DNA sequence and a common ancestor six million years ago, the genetic difference between chimpanzees and humans is 10 times greater than between unrelated humans.

Humans evolved on the African savannah during the Pliocene and Pleistocene epochs. Bipedalism was one of the first traits that our ancestors developed. This occurred around four million years ago. The recovered remains of "Lucy" (Australopithecus afarensis) suggest to evolutionists that the Australopithecines had developed bipedalism before developing into Homo contrary to popular depictions of cavemen as not being fully bipedal, although the evidence for bipedalism is questioned. About 2.5 million years ago at the Plio-Pleistocene boundary the first Homo appeared. Homo habilus was believed to be the first hominid to use stone tools but it was later discovered that Paranthropus (aka the "robust Australopithicines") also used the same primitive stone technology known as Oldowan culture, as Homo habilus.

Later in the Pleistocene, man took on a more modern appearance. Homo erectus was close to the same size as a modern human and had a brain capacity 70-80% of that of modern humans. Fully modern humans did not appear until around 130,000 years ago and then, according to one version of the story, migrated out of Africa and replaced all other human populations throughout the world. Two other human species, Homo florensis and Homo neanderthalensis were contemporaries of modern man but both species are now extinct, possibly because of us.

The Origins of Man according to non-Abrahamic religions

Myths about the creation of mankind are an important method by which anthropologists may discover more about the societies they are studying, as they show the important facets of human life to that culture. A list of creation myths in various cultures can be found at . Some notable myths are presented below.

Hindu

According to Hindus, humans were created from a part of the cut up body of Purusha.

Iroquois

According to the Iroquois, humans came about fully formed in the Sky World before descending through a hole caused by the uprooting of a tree into a lower world, originally a sea, which the humans manipulated by sending creatures to dive to the sea bottom and bring up mud for the creation of earth on which they could dwell.

China

Various creation myths exist in China, the most popular being the story of Nuwa. Nuwa was a lonely goddess, who one day looked in a pool and decided to create figures from mud based on her image in the water; creating many figures of grown ups, children, males and females (where the inspiration for males and children came from is not explained) and blowing on them to give them life (the idea here being that breath is the most important thing to all humans), Nuwa saw that the world became much livelier, and she appreciated it. She decided, too, that creating humans one-by-one was too slow, so she picked up a rope and whipped it into the mud, and many figures tumbled out, which she again blew on to give them life. This kind of creation of humans is common in cultures that have a strong pottery tradition. In the pre-modern Chinese scientific tradition, no creator is ascribed to creation - simply, one became two, two became three, and three generated all things in the universe, and this includes humans.