We are “Human” or “Sapiens”

In 1758, Carolus Linnaeus applied the scientific name Homo sapiens (that means “wise man” in Latin), one of the several species in the genus Homo. The term “Human” refers to organisms under the genus homo.

So, we are not the only “Human”. But there is no claim from any other animals because no other “Humans” are alive now. We are the only species with entirely different uncivilized cousins. Chimpanzees, apes and orangutans are the closest living relatives of Homo sapiens.

For the last 10000 years, we have been the only species under the homo genus.

About 2.5 million years ago, humans (genus Homo) first evolved from an earlier genus of apes, Australopithecus (meaning Southern Ape). You may be remembering Lucy, the 3.2-million-year-old mother of Man.

In 1975, anthropologist Donald Johanson discovered Lucy from the desert of Hadar, Ethiopia. They gave the species name Australopithecus afarensis, and by examining the skeleton she did not come under the Homo genus, she was a member of an earlier genus of homo. So we can’t say she was a “Human”.

However, many human beings who are known to have existed 10000 years ago, are Homo Habilis, Homo Erectus, Homo Neanderthalensis, Homo Denisova, Homo Heidelbergensis, Homo rudolfensis, Homo Tsaichangensis, Homo georgicus, Homo naledi, Homo floresiensis (Homo floresiensis, was believed to be extinct just before10000 years).

Currently, available archaeological and genetic data is supportive of a recent single origin of modern humans in East Africa. However, scenarios are claiming that the interbreeding of Cro-Magnon and Neanderthals led to the Homo sapiens.

According to Yuval Noah Harari, humans refer to all extant members of the genus Homo. I will often use the term “Sapiens” to denote the members of the species Homo sapiens, he says.

Sileesh Mullasseri