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Hominids

A replica of one of the Peking Man skulls

Mystery of the Lost Peking Man Fossils Solved?

A new investigation of the famous fossils that went missing during World War II suggests that the bones may be buried beneath a parking lot in China

Although chimpanzees usually walk on all fours, sometimes they walk on two legs. New research suggests chimps walk bipedally to carry valuable resources, which might explain why bipedalism evolved in hominids.

What Chimps Could Tell Us About How Humans Started Walking on Two Legs

A new study of chimpanzees suggests that early hominids evolved upright, two-legged walking to carry valuable resources away from competitors

An artist's conception of the unusual humans living in southwestern China 11,500 to 14,300 years ago.

New Hominid Species Unearthed in Chinese Caves?

Fossils discovered in China may belong to a new species of hominid or they may be evidence that modern humans were more diverse thousands of years ago

The skull of Sahelanthropus. What does its body look like?

Top Ten Hominid Fantasy Finds

You can’t predict what the next major hominid discovery will be, but you can daydream about it

Cro-Magnon was one of the first fossils of an ancient human ever discovered.

Meet the Contenders for Earliest Modern Human

Scientists have several candidates for the title of earliest Homo sapiens

A reconstruction of Gigantopithecus

Did Bigfoot Really Exist? How Gigantopithecus Became Extinct

Dental, dietary and environmental clues help explain why the world’s largest ape vanished

Humans are the only hominids with true chins.

Why Do Humans Have Chins?

Scientists have several explanations for why modern humans are the only hominids that have chins

The skull of Australopithecus sediba

Top 10 Hominid Discoveries of 2011

A look back at the year’s most important and fascinating finds in the field of human evolution

A giant bust of Peking Man at Zhoukoudian

The Human Evolution World Tour

Hominid enthusiasts can see the highlights of human evolution at evotourism destinations around the world

This ancient rock painting from Zimbabwe depicts a person smoking out a beehive.

Humans, the Honey Hunters

Energy-rich honey may have helped hominids evolve big brains

Fossil leaves from the 77,000-year-old mattress

The World’s Oldest Mattress

A 77,000-year-old grass mattress is the earliest bed in the archaeological record. What did earlier hominids sleep on?

Perhaps necklaces of shell beads were among the earliest gifts our ancestors gave each other (as seen at the National Museum of Natural History).

Hominid Gifts for the Holidays

Human evolution T-shirt, necktie, coloring book and board game are just a few of the hominid-themed gifts you can give your loved ones this holiday season

A replica of a Peking Man, or Homo erectus, skull on display in China.

The Mystery of the Missing Hominid Fossils

Seventy years ago, an important collection of “Peking Man” fossils disappeared in China. They are still missing today

The skeleton of Oreopithecus bambolii

Human Evolution’s Cookie Monster, Oreopithecus

For the past 60 years, scientists have argued over the enigmatic, human-like fossils of the nine-million-year-old Italian ape

Sea otters have teeth that resemble those of Paranthropus

Strange Animal Models of Human Evolution

What do sea otters, wolves and capuchin monkeys reveal about our hominid ancestors?

The outline of a mastodon skeleton, found at a pre-Clovis site in Washington, indicating where a spear hit the animal.

The First Americans

Neanderthals’ successful adaptation to climate change may have contributed to their extinction by leading to more interactions with humans.

Were Neanderthals Victims of Their Own Success?

A new archaeological study shows how Neanderthals’ ability to adapt to changing climates may have led to the species’ eventual extinction

An artist’s reconstruction of Australopithecus afarensis, a species that can be called a hominid or a hominin.

What’s in a Name? Hominid Versus Hominin

You may have noticed that our ancestors are increasingly called hominins, which is the result of researchers revising how they classify primates

These 125,000-year-old stone tools were found in the United Arab Emirates.

Taking a Southern Route Out of Africa

A reconstruction of a Neanderthal, which was named after Germany’s Neander Valley

A Hominid Dictionary

Hominids have complicated names, but their scientific monikers are less mysterious when their Latin, Greek and African roots are decoded

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