Systematic position of man in the system of the organic world. Common characteristics of humans and mammals

Video tutorial 2: Human races, their affinities and origins

Video tutorial 3: Biosocial nature of man. Human body sciences

Lecture: Human Origins. Man as a species, his place in the system of the organic world

Man as a species

Man appeared as a result of a long-term and complex evolutionary process; his appearance was due to the development of the animal world. The structure, genetics, and biochemistry of a person combine characteristics characteristic of all representatives of the living world, with characteristics characteristic only of its own species. Its features make it possible to distinguish it into a separate biological species, Homo sapiens - Homo sapiens.

In biological taxonomy, the position of a person is determined as follows:

ImpeRiya– Cellular;
Overkingdom– Eukaryotes;
Kingdom- Animals;
Sub-kingdom– Multicellular;
Type– Chordata;
Subtype– Vertebrates;
Class– Mammals;
Subclass– Placental;
Squad– Primates;
Suborder– Higher primates (Monkeys);
Family– Hominids;
Genus- Human;
View- A reasonable man.

The location of the species in the classification system of living nature clearly and consistently describes the main characteristics of the organism:

  • Organisms with a cellular structure belong to the Cellular Empire.
  • To the Overkingdom of Eukaryotes - organisms that have cells with a formed nucleus;
  • To the Animal Kingdom - heterotrophs with a typical cell structure;
  • The Subkingdom Multicellular is characterized by the differentiation of cells into tissues;
  • For the Phylum Chordata - an axial skeleton with a tube-shaped spinal cord, at the embryonic stage there are gills;
  • For the Vertebrate Subtype – a solid axial internal skeleton-spine and the presence of a skull;
  • For the Mammal Class - a spine consisting of 5 sections, 7 vertebrae in the cervical region, during individual development - 2 changes of teeth, the presence of a diaphragm, a four-chambered heart, warm-bloodedness, mammary glands and viviparity;
  • For the Placental Subclass - the formation of the fetus in the uterus with the placenta;
  • For the Order of Primates - the presence of nails, a grasping limb with five fingers, plantigrade walking, developed cerebral hemispheres, gregarious relations, one pair of mammary glands, collarbones, low fertility, care for offspring, developed facial expressions and sound signaling;
  • The suborder of Greater primates is characterized by the presence of similar blood groups, a high level of development of higher nervous activity, curvature of the spine, reduction of the caudal vertebrae;
  • For the Hominid family - the presence of a social lifestyle, upright walking, development of the frontal lobes of the brain with a large number of convolutions;
  • Human gender – the presence of articulate speech, a chin protuberance, the ability for abstract thinking, and purposeful work activity.

The most characteristic features of the species, which sharply distinguish it from all other living organisms, are human abilities for abstract thinking and the presence of articulate speech.

Origin of man (anthropogenesis)

Aristotle also noted that man belongs to the animal kingdom. Also, C. Linnaeus and J.-B. Lamarck expressed the idea that man descended from ape-like ancestors. Accurate and logically verified evidence of the presence of common ancestors in modern apes and humans based on physiological, morphological, anatomical, paleontological, and embryological studies was provided by Charles Darwin.

Today, a separate science, anthropology, deals with questions of human origins. She explores the problems of anthropogenesis, referring the generic name Homo not only to the only species existing today, but also to extinct ones. The genus Homo became a separate taxon more than 2 million years ago in Africa, separating itself from the dead-end branch of development - Australopithecus. At the moment, the remaining species of the genus Homo, of which more than a dozen existed at different times, have become extinct. Among them are Homo erectus (Upright Man), Homo habilis (Handy Man), Homo neandertalensis (Neanderthal Man), Homo ergaster (Working Man) and others.

Significant milestones in anthropogenesis that contributed to the isolation of the genus Homo from other representatives of the hominid family were: the use of fire, tools and the formation of language.

The most rapid development of our species has occurred in the last 50 thousand years.

Currently, scientists are intensively studying issues of anthropogenesis using modern methods and instruments. It was possible to establish that the development of various species of the genus Homo did not occur sequentially, but dichotomously - different species coexisted at different times.

The exact origin of the species Homo sapiens from a specific ancestor is unknown, various versions are assumed. Discussions continue on the taxonomy of the genus Homo - which of the discovered paleontological evidence are representatives of different species, and which are racial variations of one.

It is believed that the ancestors of people switched to upright walking for the convenience of hunting herbivores in the savannah. Another theory puts forward a version about the initial collection of shells by human ancestors in shallow waters, which caused some evolutionary changes - the absence of hair, the low position of the larynx in relation to the pharynx, the presence of vernix lubrication in newborns, a large number of sweat and sebaceous glands on the skin and a richly developed subcutaneous layer fat – characteristics characteristic of marine mammals.

Today, most scientists consider the following facts to be more reliable:

  • about 2.4 million years ago, the only line of hominids that existed at that time began to have an enlarged brain;
  • Working man, who appeared about 1.9 million years ago, acquired an even larger brain volume and body size;
  • Human ancestors began using fire about 1.5 million years ago.
  • our species arose in Africa about 300 thousand years ago.

Genetic studies have established that the theory of human origins from Africa is the most accurate, since scientists were able to identify the last common ancestor of modern humans, “mitochondrial Eve,” who lived in Africa about 200 thousand years ago.

Human races

The settlement of people around the planet occurred over tens of thousands of years. This time turned out to be enough for natural selection to act and acquire various phenotypic traits, which today are called racial.

All races belong to the same species, as they are characterized by minor differences in the genotype and crossing between them is possible to produce full-fledged fertile offspring.

Various scientists identify from 3 to 7 different races. However, research by geneticists shows that each of the characteristics of races is determined by a complex of genes that have divergent distribution areas. Populations do not differ in genotypes, but in the frequencies of different alleles.

Externally, human populations differ:

  • Caucasian– a prominent face, straight or wavy soft hair, predominantly light skin color, light eyes are often found – green blue, men actively grow a beard and mustache;
  • Negroid– dark to black skin color, coarse hair, dark eyes, wide flat nose, thick lips, low face, underdeveloped beard and mustache;
  • Mongoloid– flattened face, high cheekbones, narrow eyes, often with epicanthus, weak mustache and beard growth, narrow lips, small eyelashes;
  • Americanoid– presence of epicanthus, large facial features, aquiline nose, weakly growing beard and mustache.

Researchers suggest that the formation of races began after the last glaciation (about 12 thousand years ago), since in the Early Paleolithic the division into races did not yet exist.

Biosocial nature of man

The biosocial nature of a person lies in the complex influence of biological and social factors on him. This necessitates double adaptation, not only to biological, but also to social factors:

  • compliance of behavior with the norms accepted in a certain specific culture;
  • continuous learning and use of knowledge;
  • adaptation to changing depending on the situation in society and dominant trends.

General factors influencing behavior, physiology and adaptation to specific conditions are studied by human ecology.

The place of man in the system of the animal world can be represented as follows: man belongs to the phylum Chordata, subphylum Vertebrates, class Mammals, order Primates, family Hominids, genus Man, species Homo sapiens.

There is one type of people on Earth, which is divided into races. Usually there are either three large races or five. In the first case, this is the equatorial race (Negro-Australoid), Eurasian (Caucasian), Asian
American (Mongoloid). In the second case, Negroid, Australoid, Caucasoid, Mongoloid and American races are distinguished.

Within each race there are subraces. For example, within the Caucasian race there are Atlanto-Baltic, Central European and other subraces. The differences between the races are purely morphological. Human races began to form approximately 30–40 thousand years ago during the process of human settlement of the Earth. Many morphological racial characteristics had adaptive significance, that is, they arose as an adaptation to the conditions of existence. Races are open genetic systems.

One nation can include different races, on the other hand, the same races can be part of different nations.

All human races are characterized by species-wide characteristics (the structure of the skull, brain, foot, the same blood groups, Rh factor, the same number and type of chromosomes), all races are equivalent in biological, mental and social terms.


Anthropology studies the origin and evolution of man. The development of Homo sapiens was influenced by the same factors of biological evolution as the evolution of other species. However, biological laws alone are not enough for anthropogenesis. The origins of Homo sapiens depended equally on biological and social processes.

Social factors of anthropogenesis include work activity, social lifestyle, speech, and thinking. Information is transmitted using a second signaling system that animals do not have. The second signaling system, discovered by the great Russian physiologist, is associated with the function of speech, the visible and audible word. wrote that a word is a signal of the signals of the first signaling system, common to humans and animals (the first signaling system is associated with the perception of direct signals from the outside world). It was the word that made us human.

The biosocial nature of man is expressed in the fact that the human genotype provides the possibility of not only the biological existence of man as one of the species of the animal kingdom, but also the possibility of implementing a social program. Human development is impossible outside of human society - society. Scientists are well aware of the so-called Mowgli phenomenon, when small children grew up among animals. Such children, as a rule, were never able to subsequently learn human speech or master the norms of human communication.

Thus, human development is influenced by both biological and social factors - the environment in which he is raised and lives.

The role of man in the biosphere is extremely great. There is an intergovernmental program “Man and the Biosphere”. This program includes 14 projects devoted to the study of human influences on the biosphere. This includes influences that arise as a consequence of a wide variety of human activities: land use, engineering work, the use of different types of energy, space exploration, etc.

Human impact on the environment is called anthropogenic impact. Air pollution caused by industrial emissions affects forest areas; Irrigation systems significantly change the state of the entire environment; urbanization (i.e. the expansion of urban areas, the construction of new cities) is absorbing hundreds of thousands of hectares of agricultural land. According to some data, approximately 50% of the land surface is now under strong human economic influence. This leads to the fact that primary biogeocenoses, with great species diversity, are replaced by secondary, simplified ones: for example, instead of coniferous tracts, low-value species of small-leaved trees and shrubs grow. As a result of human activity, entire species of animals and plants are disappearing. The threat of a decrease in species diversity associated with the destruction of tropical forests, which are also the “lungs” of our planet, is especially great. Significant harm is caused by human use of natural resources without taking into account the patterns that exist in the biosphere. The powerful human pressure on the biosphere in our time is comparable to geological processes.


In order to protect the biosphere from the negative influence of anthropogenic influences, a person must comply with the basic principles of nature conservation in his activities. One of the most important principles is the need to conserve species diversity and recognize the potential benefits of each species. It is also necessary to take into account the principle of universal connection in living nature: disruption of the functions of any one link will ultimately affect the state of the biosphere as a whole. Of great importance is the creation of biosphere reserves - specially protected areas for the preservation of flora, fauna, diversity of ecosystems, studying the patterns of their existence, monitoring changes in the biosphere (monitoring).

2. Exit of plants to land. Higher spore plants (mosses and ferns), their complexity compared to algae

About 2600 million years ago, in the Proterozoic era, green and red algae dominated our planet. Algae are lower plants, the body of which is not divided into sections and does not have special tissues (such a body is called a thallus). Algae continued to dominate in the Paleozoic (approximately 570 million years ago), but in the Silurian period of the Paleozoic, the most ancient higher plants appeared - rhinophytes (or psilophytes). These plants already had shoots, but they did not yet have leaves and roots. They reproduced by spores and led a terrestrial or semi-aquatic lifestyle.

In the Devonian period of the Paleozoic, bryophytes and pteridophytes (moss mosses, horsetails, ferns) appear, and rhiniophytes and algae dominate the Earth. Bryophytes and pteridophytes are higher spore plants. Mosses develop stems and leaves (outgrowths of the stem), but there are no roots yet; The function of roots is performed by rhizoids - root-like processes of the stem. The development cycle of mosses is dominated by the haploid generation (gametophyte) - the moss plant itself. The diploid generation (sporophyte) is not capable of independent existence and feeds on the gametophyte. Ferns develop roots; in their development cycle, the sporophyte (the plant itself) predominates, and the gametophyte is represented by a prothallus - a small heart-shaped plate in ferns or a nodule in mosses and horsetails. In ancient times these were huge tree-like plants. Reproduction of higher spores is impossible without water, since fertilization occurs with mobile male gametes - sperm, which move to the eggs in droplets of water. This is why water is a limiting factor for higher spore plants: if there is no drip water, the reproduction of these plants will become impossible.

In the Carboniferous (Carboniferous) seed ferns appeared, from which later, as scientists believe, gymnosperms originated. Giant tree-like ferns dominate the planet (they are the ones who produced the coal deposits), and rhinophytes completely die out during this period.

Thus, the main difference between higher spore plants and algae is the appearance of vegetative organs - stems, leaves, roots (in pteridophytes). These plants already have different tissues. In their development cycle, they alternate sexual and asexual generations; In bryophytes, the gametophyte predominates in the life cycle, and in pteridophytes, the sporophyte predominates. Representatives of bryophytes are anthocerotic mosses (for example, anthocerotic moss is a moss that does not yet have division into stem and leaves; its body is a rosette-shaped thallus); liver mosses (for example, marchantia; their gametophyte can be thallous, but there are also leafy plants); leafy mosses (these include green mosses, sphagnum mosses). It is believed that in the process of evolution, bryophytes descended from ancient green algae.

Representatives of pteridophytes are mosses, horsetails and ferns. Ferns are the richest in species (about 10 thousand species, while horsetails have only about 30 species). It is believed that ferns descended from ancient rhyniophytes.

3. Show on the skeleton the bones of the shoulder and forearm, thigh and lower leg.

Scientists call anthropogenesis the period from the appearance of the first ancestral forms of man in East Africa (about 1.7 million years ago) to the present, and also try to determine the place of man in the The result of this study was the creation of a whole group of scientific disciplines: anthropology, social psychology, socionics, who consider man as an object of the animal world, taking into account that he is a completely unique being of spiritual nature. In this article we will answer the question of what is the place of man in the system of the organic world, taking into account his duality, which consists in combining physical and subtle-material traits.

Systematic position of Homo sapiens

All living beings living on our planet have a strictly defined position in the classification system of nature. Let's look at what is the place of man in the system of the organic world.

Empire is the dominant systematic category. It is called Life. This is followed by a taxon such as a domain (superkingdom). Life includes two superkingdoms: Prokaryotes and Eukaryotes. Man is included in the domain of Eukaryotes (Nuclear organisms). This is followed by the kingdom Animalia, class Mammals, infraclass Placentals, order Primates, family Hominids, genus People, species Homo sapiens. All living individuals included in the above taxonomic units form the aggregate called humanity.

How to prove the animal origin of a person

Research conducted by taxonomists has confirmed that the place of man in the system of the organic world is the class Mammals, which also includes such animal taxa as the families Felida, Canidae, Chiroptera, Rodents, Artiodactyls, etc. Despite external differences in structure, all representatives of placental mammals, which includes humans, have common anatomical and physiological features. These include a 4-chambered heart, two circles of blood circulation, and warm-bloodedness. The general plan of the structure of the fore and hind limbs, as well as their belts, in all animals of this taxon is similar to the anatomical structure of humans. For example, the upper limb of all mammals consists of the humerus, ulna and radius, as well as the bones of the wrist, metacarpus and phalanges.

Metabolic reactions in humans and placental mammals are quite similar. For example, the breakdown of organic compounds under the action of digestive enzymes, the transfer of oxygen by red blood cells, the formation of uric acid as the end product of the excretory system. The mechanisms of neurohumoral regulation of life are common. This confirms the fact that man in the system of the organic world is closely related to representatives of vertebrate animals included in the class Mammals.

Embryological evidence of human animality

Not only the results of research in the field of anatomy and physiology prove that we have a common origin with the animal world. Serious confirmation of this fact is provided by research in the field of embryology, which studies the embryonic development of vertebrates, ranging from the superclass Fish to the class Mammals. The biogenetic law, formulated by F. Muller, combined the historical development of each species with the ontogenesis of an individual individual. In embryogenesis, all vertebrate animals, including humans, go through the stages of an egg, a single-layer embryo - blastula, and a two-layer embryo consisting of ectoderm and endoderm - gastrula.

In the early stages of development, all chordate embryos, without exception, have gill slits, a tail, and a similar body shape. This serves as proof that man’s place in the system of the organic world is next to animals. Moreover, many scientists believe that all land vertebrates descended from common ancestral forms.

Rudiments and atavisms

With the help of a discipline such as comparative anatomy, you will determine the place of man in the system of the organic world, since a clear connection can be seen in the structure of the body and individual organs of mammals. For example, the appendix is ​​a vestige that confirms that our common ancestors were herbivorous forms of animals. And although it has lost its importance in human digestion, it continues to play an important role in the breakdown of fiber in artiodactyls and other herbivorous animals. Such a rudiment as the third eyelid, which does not perform any function in the human organ of vision, plays an important role in vertebrates of the class Reptiles, for example in snakes.

In humans, the ear muscles are rudimentary, so the auricle is practically motionless. But in the order of carnivores, this group of muscles is especially well developed, which provides them with protection and orientation in the environment.

Atavisms: the appearance of a tail, multiple nipples, abundant development of hair on the face and other parts of the body - indicate the place of man in the system of the organic world, taking into account his animal origin.

Anatomical features associated with upright walking

The phenomenon of vertical body position entailed the appearance of certain features in the anatomical structure of the human body. For example, the S-shaped shape of the spine, which increases flexibility and softens shocks and shocks when walking and running, the cup-shaped shape of the pelvis in which the internal organs are located, the special structure of the foot - it has an arch that provides shock absorption and protection of the lower extremities when walking. All of these characteristics are unique to humans and are not found in any animal species. This indicates the special modern place of man in the system of the organic world, separating him from other representatives of the animal kingdom.

Social factors of human evolution

Upright walking played an important role in the development of the human individual. The upper limb - the hand - was freed from the functions of movement and began to be used to perform delicate and complex operations: writing, labor, playing musical instruments, etc. The ability to make and use fire both for protection and for cooking thermally processed food is finally separated representatives of the species Homo sapiens from other animals and designated the exclusive place of man in the system of the organic world.

Development of thinking and speech

The use of artificially created tools and life in primitive communities entailed the formation of a qualitatively different signaling system, different from the “language of animals.” The complication of interneuron contacts in the left hemisphere and frontal lobe (Wernicke's and Broca's areas) ensured the activation of areas of speech understanding and motor skills. The ability for complex mental operations: analysis, synthesis, abstraction - became the result of human evolution - anthropogenesis. He led to the formation of modern Homo sapiens.

Anthropogenesis and the dual nature of man

Being part of living nature and subject to its evolutionary development, human society as a whole, like each individual, is a reflection of its social relations that have developed as a result of the historical, religious and cultural characteristics of various human populations. A scientific discipline such as sociobiology, which is essentially a compilation of genetics, sociology, biology, psychology, tries to link into a single whole the postulates of natural selection operating in living nature with such purely human phenomena as altruism and culture. They are dominant in human behavioral reactions and determine its fundamental difference from the reflexes and instincts of animals.

Humanity and its social model

Objectively assessing the role of the biological component in human evolution, as well as taking into account the close connection with living nature, it is necessary to remember that all the above facts prove that the biological species Homo sapiens throughout anthropogenesis was formed according to the laws of the development of human society, which are studied by sociology, social science, psychology . The connection between man and the animal world is clearly traced by such a science as biology. The place of man in the system of the organic world is unique, since he is a dual being.

All known spiritual and philosophical theories that arose in Ancient Babylon, Greece and the Roman Empire speak about this. They were transformed and formed as the ideas of the main religions of the world: Judaism, Christianity, Islam and Buddhism. The largest centers of world civilizations arose on the basis of socio-economic relationships. Thanks to them, a special form of life appeared and formed on Earth, called humanity.

Man has a very ancient evolutionary lineage. At the very beginning of the animal world stand the first living beings, who are thus the starting point of development for humans.

Based on the structure and location of its organs, humans belong to the class of mammals. The most significant features inherent in both humans and mammals are the mammary, sebaceous and sweat glands, body hair, specialized teeth (incisors, canines, premolars and molars), a four-chambered heart and the left aortic arch, pulmonary breathing, the presence of a diaphragm, highly developed brain, intrauterine development of the embryo, feeding the baby with milk.

Both humans and animals have common links in tissue metabolism, growth and individual development are carried out in a similar way, a common principle for the entire organic world for storing and implementing the genetic code, etc. The maximum similarity of humans is found with representatives of the family of great apes, or anthropoids: gorilla, chimpanzee, orangutan, gibbon. The commonality of the internal structure of humans and anthropoids is complemented by external similarities: they have a single structure of the upper and lower extremities, the absence of a tail, very similar ears, the presence of fingernails, etc.

Domestic biochemist A. N. Belozersky analyzed the results of molecular DNA hybridization to identify the degree of commonality of genetic information in the chromosomes of humans and some monkeys. It turned out that the number of similar nucleotide sequences in DNA in humans and chimpanzees was 91%, in humans and gibbons - 76%, in humans and rhesus macaques - 66%, i.e. The closer animals are to humans in a systematic sense, the greater the similarity between them in the molecular structure of DNA.

At one time, Charles Darwin provided convincing evidence of the phylogenetic community of emotions and ways of expressing them, devoting a separate essay to them, closely related to The Descent of Man. In his essay “The Expression of Emotions in Man and Animals,” published in 1872, Darwin successfully showed that in terms of the features of elementary mental activity and methods of expressing sensations, man is undoubtedly genetically related to monkeys. Another important conclusion is that there are no psychic differences among the human races.

However, man is distinguished from the animal world fundamental biological differences, such as an upright position of the body and movement on two legs, a high degree of development of the hands and the ability to perform a variety of delicate and high-precision operations, a large volume of the brain, which is 2.5 times larger than the brain of anthropoids and 3.5 times its surface area, and finally speech, which is characteristic only of man.

It is no coincidence that Charles Darwin at one time concluded that none of the modern apes is the direct ancestor of humans. The human ancestry consists of a long chain of his predecessors; it goes back into the depths of time for tens of millions of years, and the last link before the first people was the fossil ape. A fossil predecessor of man, unknown during Darwin's lifetime, was subsequently discovered, confirming the scientist's scientific foresight.

The place of man in the system of the organic world

Man is a social being, the distinctive feature of which is consciousness, formed on the basis of social and labor activity.

Man appeared on Earth as a result of a long process of development (anthropogenesis).

All living representatives of humanity belong to the same species - Homo sapiens , which belongs to phylum chordata,vertebrate subphylum, class of mammals, order of primates And hominid family .

The distinctive features of a person are:

  • a very large (absolutely and relatively) brain with developed areas responsible for articulate speech and thinking;
  • change in the proportions of the limbs - lengthening of the legs compared to the arms;
  • S-shaped spinal column with pronounced cervical and lumbar curves;
  • expanded pelvic shape;
  • chest flattened in the anteroposterior direction;
  • arched foot with a massive and adducted big toe and relative reduction (underdevelopment) of the rest;
  • complete opposition of the thumb to the rest;
  • reduction (underdevelopment) of hair;
  • strong development of papillary patterns on the skin of the fingertips;
  • increasing period of childhood.

Chordata- This is a type of deuterostome animal.

The following characteristics are characteristic of chordates:

  • the axial skeleton in the form of a notochord lying above the gut, which in higher chordates (vertebrates) is replaced by a spine;
  • the dorsal neural tube, which lies above the notochord (tubular central nervous system), from which the brain and spinal cord develop;
  • paired metameric (segmental) gill slits in the wall of the pharynx, present throughout life (in proto-aquatic chordates) or at a certain stage of development (in terrestrial chordates).

Mammals, or animals, are a class of animals belonging to the subphylum of vertebrates of the chordate type. Man, being a representative of mammals, has all the main features characteristic of this class:

  • mammary gland;
  • hairline;
  • skin glands(greasy and sweaty);
  • four-chambered heart with left aortic arch;
  • seven cervical vertebrae with modified first (atlas) and second (epistrophic) vertebrae;

  • heterodont(different in structure) teeth, among which are incisors, canines and molars;
  • three auditory ossicles in the middle ear cavity And developed outer ear;
  • lips, in the thickness of which muscles are located;
  • saliva containing enzymes;
  • aperture, separating the chest and abdominal cavities;
  • lungs, built from the alveoli;
  • red blood cells without nuclei;
  • larynx with vocal cords;
  • eyelids with eyelashes.

Primates is an order of higher placental mammals. Humans have a number of common characteristics in common with most primates:

The five-fingered limb is the principle of the structure of the limbs of terrestrial vertebrates, including the general plan of the structure of the limbs of mammals and humans. During the process of evolution, individual details of the structure of the limbs may change, but the general principle remains unchanged.

  • flat nails on the fingers and toes;
  • presence of papillary patterns on the palms and soles;
  • poor development of the olfactory organs, good development of the hearing and vision organs;
  • DNA similarity(humans and chimpanzees have about 90% similar genes);
  • structure of facial muscles.
  • low fertility, compensated by developed care for offspring;

Apes (hominoids, anthropoids)- This superfamily of monkeys , which includes the families gibbons (gibbons), pongids (orangutans, gorillas, chimpanzees) and hominids (representatives of the genus Homo and the only living species Homo sapiens).

Apes have a number of common characteristics that make it possible to classify humans as members of this superfamily. These are the following signs:

  • large body size;
  • lack of a long tail;
  • similar shape of the auricle;
  • large brain with developed grooves and convolutions;
  • similar structure of the teeth, especially the chewing surface (“Dryopithecus pattern”);
  • structure of internal organs;
  • the presence of an appendix;
  • similar blood types;
  • similarities in the course of diseases, especially infectious ones.

Representatives of the pongid family, especially chimpanzees, show the greatest similarity with humans (the percentage of similar genes in humans and chimpanzees reaches 91).

Rudiments(lat. rudimentum- germ, first principle), or vestigial organs, are relatively simplified and underdeveloped structures that have lost their basic significance in the process of historical development (phylogeny).

In humans, rudiments include:

  • caudal vertebrae;
  • appendix as a digestive organ;
  • muscles of the auricle;
  • hairline of the body; The appendix is ​​a rudiment only as a part of the intestine that has lost its digestive function, although it plays an important role in the body - it is part of the immune system
  • third eyelid.

Rudiments are laid down during embryonic development, but do not fully develop. Unlike atavisms, rudiments are found in all individuals of the species.

Atavisms(lat. atavus- ancestor) - characteristics that appear in individual organisms of a given species, which existed in distant ancestors, but disappeared in the process of evolution.

In humans, atavisms include:

  • presence of a tail;
  • excessive hair growth on the body and face (hypertrichosis);
  • multi-nipple;
  • highly developed fangs.