In recent years, the scientific literature has begun to call our ancient ancestors " hominins ”And no longer“ hominids “.
A recent article published by the Smithsonian Institutes explains the reason for this change, which is not only lexical as it might seem at first glance, but modifies the relationship between us and other species .
In the classical taxonomic system, developed in the eighteenth century by Charles Linnaeus, man (homo sapiens) is classified as follows:
Kingdom: Animal
Phylum: Cordata (animals that at the embryonic stage are equipped with a dorsal chord)
Order: Primates (includes lemurs, galagidae, tarsiers, monkeys, apes and humans)
Family: Hominidae (includes modern man and our extinct ancestors such as the Ardipitecus and the Australopithecus )
Genre: Homo
Species: Sapiens
According to this classification the term “ hominid ”Therefore refers to the members of the family“ Hominidae ".
In recent decades, however, this family has expanded to include gorilla , chimpanzee and orangutans due to their evolutionary proximity to humans.
In the past, these animals were classified among the Pongidae , based on some physical characteristics that unite them.
But the genetic analyzes conducted in recent years have made it possible to discover that gorillas and chimpanzees have much more in common with humans than with orangutans, making this classification useless and meaningless.
According to the new discoveries, man is therefore classified as follows:
Family: Hominidae (includes modern humans, gorillas and orangutans)
Subfamily: Homininae (includes gorillas, chimpanzees and humans)
Tribe: Hominins (humans and extinct progenitors. Those that in the old classification were Hominidae)
Genus: Homo
Species: Sapiens
The term hominini it therefore refers to the name of the tribe appeared in the new classification.
But is continuing to call them "hominids" therefore wrong? No, because all hominins are also hominids anyway.