Human evolution. Artwork showing a snapshot of the evolution of humans from earlier forms of life. At far left is the shrew-like mammal,Purgatorius (65 million years ago,mya),that is thought to have evolved into a lemur-like animal (second from left,45 mya). Following this is a succession of four pre-human primates: Aegyptopithecus (35 mya),Proconsul (20 mya),Australopithecus afarensis (4 mya),and Homo erectus (1 mya). Finally,modern humans,Homo sapiens (far right),appeared around 400 thousand years ago |