Impact of recently discovered hominins on the understanding of human Research Paper

Impact of recently discovered hominins on the understanding of human phylogeny and biology - Research Paper Example Scientists have called these early hominids as australopiths which is Latin for apes. Then starting around 2.3 million years ago, something curious happened. New hominids hit the scene, species that were subsequently christened homo, which is Latin for man. With the coming of these hominids, came the flattening of the snout and the shortening of the hook-like fingers of the australopiths, an evolutionary process that is assumed to have given birth to modern man (Homo sapiens). By approximately 1.8 million years ago, a species by the name Homo ergaster, which was about as tall as living humans, with stiff feet in its long legs that were only good for walking on the ground, hit the ground. Its brain on the other hand was only a third of our brain. This is how far the australopiths reached. What followed afterwards was the discovery of a group of species that were more man-like but with slight differences in their feature, species that have since assumed the name â€Å"Homo† whic h is Latin for man. A careful analysis of this narration reveals a missing link between the Australopiths (apes) and the homo (man). The big question that evolutionary scientist