HUMAN EVOLUTION

Read the following text and then answer the questions.

An Hominid is an erect bipedal primate mammal, including recent humans together with their
extinct ancestral forms and in some recent classifications, the “great apes”(such as the orangutan,
gorilla, and chimpanzee) are also classified as hominids. In fact, chimpanzees and humans have
very similar DNA.

According to the theory of evolution, all known hominids have been direct ancestors of modern
humans.

The Homo Erectus was the first hominid to use fire.

An animal that walks on two feet is called a BIPED

An early hominid that lived more than 3 million years ago was nicknamed “LUCY” by an American
paleoanthropologist discovered the remains.

The first hominid to use fire was the Homo Erectus.

Prehistoric humans are commonly called CAVEMEN.

Neanderthals had a sense of community; they cared about one another and buried their dead.

Hominids appeared on Earth in the order indicated in the following image.

One of the oldest hominides found is Lucy, discovered in Africa by paleoanthropologist Donald
Johanson. Lucy is a collection of several hundred pieces of fossilized bone representing 40 percent
of a female of the hominin species Australopithecus Afarensis.
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Human Evolution Questionnaire:
1. Prehistoric humans are called _________________.

a) Homo anthropic

b) Hominids

c) Lucy

d) Cavemen

2. An American paleoanthropologist who nicknamed her _________ discovered the

remains of an early hominid that lived more than 3 million years ago.

a) Susan

b) Donald

c) Hillary

d) Lucy

3. An animal that walks on two feet is called a _______.

a) Moped

b) Tripped

c) Biped

d) Ape

4. Who was the first hominid to use fire?

a) Handy Man

b) Homo sapiens sapiens

c) Homo erectus

d) Wise Man
5. Neanderthals had a sense of ____________; they cared about one another and

buried their dead.

a) Urgency

b) Pride

c) Community

d) Doom

6. Please place these hominids in the correct order they lived (from earliest to closest

to our time)

1) Homo Sapiens Sapiens 2) Upright Man 3) Homo Habilis 4) Neanderthals

a) 1, 2, 4, 3

b) 2, 4, 3, 1

c) 2, 3, 4, 1

d) 2, 4, 3, 1

7. Write True or False

______ 1. Humans and their closest fossil relatives are known as hominids.

______ 2. Chimpanzees and humans have very similar DNA.

______ 3. Based on an examination of fossils, Australopithecines were taller than modern

humans were.

______ 4. All known hominids are direct ancestors of modern humans.

______ 5. Lucy was a hominid known as Homo sapiens Neanderthalensis.

______ 6. Australopithecus Afarensis lived before Homo erectus.