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The scientific study of [[human evolution]] encompasses the development of the genus ''[[Homo (genus)|Homo]]'', but usually involves studying other [[hominidae|hominids]] and [[homininae|hominines]] as well, such as ''[[Australopithecus]]''. "Modern humans" are defined as the ''Homo sapiens'' [[species]], of which the only extant [[subspecies]] is ''Homo sapiens sapiens''; ''[[Homo sapiens idaltu]]'' (roughly translated as "elder wise human"), the other known subspecies, is extinct. [http://www.anth.ucsb.edu/projects/human/#] Anatomically modern humans appear in the fossil record in Africa about 130,000 years ago.[http://www.mnh.si.edu/anthro/humanorigins/ha/sap.htm]
The scientific study of [[human evolution]] encompasses the development of the genus ''[[Homo (genus)|Homo]]'', but usually involves studying other [[hominidae|hominids]] and [[homininae|hominines]] as well, such as ''[[Australopithecus]]''. "Modern humans" are defined as the ''Homo sapiens'' [[species]], of which the only extant [[subspecies]] is ''Homo sapiens sapiens''; ''[[Homo sapiens idaltu]]'' (roughly translated as "elder wise human"), the other known subspecies, is extinct. [http://www.anth.ucsb.edu/projects/human/#] Anatomically modern humans appear in the fossil record in Africa about 130,000 years ago.[http://www.mnh.si.edu/anthro/humanorigins/ha/sap.htm]
The closest living relatives of ''Homo sapiens'' are two distinct species of the genus Pan: the [[Bonobo]] (''Pan paniscus'') and the [[Common Chimpanzee]] (''Pan troglodytes''). These species share the same common ancestor. The main difference between them is the social organization: [[matriarchal]] for the Bonobo and [[patriarchal]] for the Common Chimpanzee. Full [[genome]] sequencing resulted in the conclusion that "after 6.5 [[million]] years of separate evolution, the differences between bonobo/chimpanzee and human are just 10 times greater than those between two unrelated people and 10 times less than those between rats and mice". In fact, 95 per cent of the DNA sequence is identical between the two ''Pan'' species and human.[[Frans de Waal]], ''Bonobo'' ISBN 0-520-20535-9 [http://www.2think.org/bonobo.shtml [http://www.pnas.org/cgi/content/full/99/21/13633] [url=http://www.pnas.org/cgi/content/full/100/12/7181][http://mbe.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/reprint/14/3/248]| It has been estimated that the human [[lineage (evolution)|lineage]] diverged from that of chimpanzees about five million years ago, and from [[gorilla]]s about eight million years ago. However, a hominid skull discovered in [[Chad]] in 2001, classified as ''[[Sahelanthropus tchadensis]]'', is approximately seven million years old, which may indicate an earlier divergence. [http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v418/n6894/full/nature00879.html]
The closest living relatives of ''Homo sapiens'' are two distinct species of the genus Pan: the [[Bonobo]] (''Pan paniscus'') and the [[Common Chimpanzee]] (''Pan troglodytes''). These species share the same common ancestor. The main difference between them is the social organization: [[matriarchal]] for the Bonobo and [[patriarchal]] for the Common Chimpanzee. Full [[genome]] sequencing resulted in the conclusion that "after 6.5 [[million]] years of separate evolution, the differences between bonobo/chimpanzee and human are just 10 times greater than those between two unrelated people and 10 times less than those between rats and mice". In fact, 95 per cent of the DNA sequence is identical between the two ''Pan'' species and human.[[Frans de Waal]], ''Bonobo'' ISBN 0-520-20535-9 [http://www.2think.org/bonobo.shtml] [http://www.pnas.org/cgi/content/full/99/21/13633] [url=http://www.pnas.org/cgi/content/full/100/12/7181][http://mbe.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/reprint/14/3/248]| It has been estimated that the human [[lineage (evolution)|lineage]] diverged from that of chimpanzees about five million years ago, and from [[gorilla]]s about eight million years ago. However, a hominid skull discovered in [[Chad]] in 2001, classified as ''[[Sahelanthropus tchadensis]]'', is approximately seven million years old, which may indicate an earlier divergence. [http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v418/n6894/full/nature00879.html]
The [[Recent African Origin]] (RAO), or "out-of-Africa", hypothesis proposes that modern humans evolved in Africa and later [[human migration|migrated]] outwards to replace hominids in other parts of the world. Evidence from [[Archaeogenetics]] accumulating since the 1990s has lent strong support to RAO and has marginalized the competing [[multiregional hypothesis]], which proposed that modern humans evolved, at least in part, from independent hominid populations. [http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/B6WJS-4G3SC6X-1/2/aae7c2810f0d87628e228363c0e1bd66]
The [[Recent African Origin]] (RAO), or "out-of-Africa", hypothesis proposes that modern humans evolved in Africa and later [[human migration|migrated]] outwards to replace hominids in other parts of the world. Evidence from [[Archaeogenetics]] accumulating since the 1990s has lent strong support to RAO and has marginalized the competing [[multiregional hypothesis]], which proposed that modern humans evolved, at least in part, from independent hominid populations. [http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/B6WJS-4G3SC6X-1/2/aae7c2810f0d87628e228363c0e1bd66]
