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Homininae (the hominines) is a subfamily of the family Hominidae (hominids). (The Homininae——encompass humans, and are also called " African hominids" or " African apes".) This subfamily includes two tribes, Hominini and Gorillini, both having extant taxon (or living) species as well as extinct species.
Tribe Hominini includes: the extant genus Homo, which comprises only one extant species—the modern ( Homo sapiens), and numerous extinct human species; and the extant genus Pan, which includes two extant species, and . Tribe Gorillini () contains one extant genus, Gorilla, with two extant species, with variants, and one known extinct genus. Alternatively, the genus Pan is considered by some to belong, instead of to a subtribe Panina, to its own separate tribe, ( so-called) "Panini"—which would be a third tribe for Homininae.
Some classification schemes provide a more comprehensive account of extinct groups—(see section "Taxonomic Classification", below). For example, tribe Hominini shows two subtribes: subtribe Hominina, which contains at least two extinct Genus; and subtribe Panina, which presents only the extant genus, Pan (chimpanzees/bonobos), as fossils of extinct chimpanzees/bonobos are very rarely found.
The Homininae comprise all that arose after the subfamily Ponginae () split from the line of the . The Homininae cladogram has three main branches leading: to gorillas (via the tribe Gorillini); to humans and to chimpanzees (via the tribe Hominini and subtribes Hominina and Panina―see graphic "Evolutionary tree", below). There are two living species of Panina, chimpanzees and bonobos, and two living species of gorillas and one that is extinct. Traces of extinct Homo species, including Homo floresiensis, have been found with dates as recent as 40,000 years ago. Individual members of this subfamily are called hominine or hominines—not to be confused with the terms or Hominini.A hominin is a member of the tribe Hominini, a hominine is a member of the subfamily Homininae, a hominid is a member of the family Hominidae, and a hominoid is a member of the superfamily Hominoidea.
The subfamily Homininae can be further subdivided into three branches, the tribe Gorillini (gorillas), the tribe Hominini with subtribes Panina (chimpanzees/bonobos) and Hominina (humans and their extinct relatives), and the extinct tribe Dryopithecini. The Late Miocene fossil Nakalipithecus nakayamai, described in 2007, is a basal member of this clade, as is, perhaps, its contemporary Ouranopithecus; that is, they are not assignable to any of the three extant branches. Their existence suggests that the Homininae tribes diverged not earlier than about 8 million years ago (see Human evolutionary genetics).
Today, chimpanzees and gorillas live in with acid soils that rarely preserve fossils. Although no fossil gorillas have been reported, four chimpanzee teeth about 500,000 years old have been discovered in the East-African rift valley (Kapthurin Formation, Kenya), where many fossils from the human lineage (hominins) have been found. This shows that some chimpanzees lived close to Homo ( H. erectus or H. rhodesiensis) at the time; the same is likely true for gorillas.
There is evidence there was interbreeding of Gorillas and the Pan–Homo ancestors until right up to the Pan–Homo split.
The evolution of bipedalism encouraged multiple changes among hominins especially when it came to bipedalism in humans as they were now able to do many other things as they began to walk with their feet. These changes included the ability to now use their hands to create tools or carry things with their hands, the ability to travel longer distances at a faster speed, and the ability to hunt for food. According to researchers, humans were able to be bipedalists due to Darwin's Principle of natural selection. Darwin himself believed that larger brains in humans made an upright gait necessary, but had no hypothesis for how the mechanism evolved.
The first major theory attempting to directly explanation the origins of bipedalism was the Savannah hypothesis (Dart 1925.) This theory hypothesized that hominins became bipedalists due to the environment of the Savanna such as the tall grass and dry climate. This was later proven to be incorrect due to fossil records that showed that hominins were still climbing trees during this era.
Anthropologist Owen Lovejoy has suggested that bipedalism was a result of sexual dimorphism in efforts to help with the collecting of food. In his Male Provisioning Hypothesis introduced in 1981, lowered birth rates in early hominids increased pressure on males to provide for females and offspring. While females groomed and cared for their children with the family group, males ranged to seek food and returned bipadally with full arms. Males who could better provide for females in this model were more likely to mate and produce offspring.
Anthropologist Yohannes Haile-Selassie, an expert on Australopithecus anamensis, discusses the evidence that Australopithecus were one of the first hominins to evolve into obligate bipedalists. The remains of this subfamily are very important in the field of research as it presents possible information regarding how these primates adapted from tree life to terrestrial life. This was a huge adaptation as it encouraged many evolutionary changes within hominins including the ability to use their hand to make tools and gather food, as well as a larger brain development due to their change in diet.
The current size of the human brain is a big distinguishing factor that separates humans from other primates. Recent examination of the human brain shows that the brain of a human is about more than four times the size of and 20 times larger than the brain size of old world monkeys. A study was conducted to help determine the evolution of the brain size within the sub family Homininae that tested the genes ASPM (abnormal spindle-like microcephaly associated) and MCHP1 Microcephalin) and their association with the human brain. In this study researchers discovered that the increase in brain size is correlated to the increase of both ASP and MCPH1. MCPH1 is very polymorphic in humans compared to , Old World monkeys. This gene helps encourage the growth of the brain. Further research indicated that the MCPH1 gene in humans could have also been an encouraging factor of population expansion. Other researchers have included that the diet was an encouraging factor to brain size as protein intake increased this helped brain development.
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