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Homo habilis is a species of the genus Homo, which lived from approximately 2.5 million to 2.0 million years ago.
The definition of this species goes back to Louis Leakey who found fossils
in Tanzania, East Africa, in 1964. Its name
means "handy man". Homo habilis is arguably the first species of the Homo genus to appear. In its appearance
and morphology, H. habilis was the least similar to modern humans of all species to be placed in the genus Homo
(except possibly Homo rudolfensis). Homo habilis was very short and had disproportionately long arms compared
to modern man. It is thought to have descended from a species of Australopithecine hominid. It may have had a more immediate ancestor in the form of the somewhat more
massive and ape-like, Homo rudolfensis. Homo
habilis had a brain slightly less than half of the size of modern man. These early human ancestors were small, on average
standing no more than 1.3 m tall.
Homo habilis shared the earth with many other Homo-like bipedal primates, such as Paranthropus boisei, which were also highly successful, some prospering
for many millennia. However, H. habilis, with its early tool innovation and less specialized diet, proved to be a
precursor of an entire line of new species, whereas Paranthropus boisei and its relatives disappeared from the later
fossil record.
Homo habilis is thought to have mastered the Oldowan era (Early
Paleolithic) tool case which utilized stone flakes. Though these stone flakes were primitive by human standards, they were more
advanced than any tools that had ever previously existed, and they gave H. habilis the edge it needed to prosper in
hostile environments previously too formidable for primates. However, H. habilis was not the master hunter that its
descendants proved to be, as there is ample fossil evidence that H. habilis was a major staple in the diet of large
predatory animals such as Dinofelis barlowi, a large predatory cat similar to a leopard. H. habilis
used tools primarily for scavenging, such as cleaving meat off of carrion, rather than defence or hunting.
Homo habilis is thought to be the ancestor of the lankier and more sophisticated, Homo ergaster, which in turn gave rise to the more human appearing species, Homo erectus. There is debate over whether H. habilis is a direct
human ancestor, and over how many known fossils are properly attributed to the species.
There is little evidence that Homo habilis controlled fire, buried its dead, hunted cooperatively, used language (any
more advanced than gestures) or studied its environment in the manner of its later descendants.
External link
Early Human Phylogeny (Smithsonian Institution )
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