Humans Are Mammals - The Australian Museum

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Australopitheus africanus Click to enlarge image
Toggle Caption Australopitheus africanus skull from the Human Evolution Gallery (tracks through time) Location: Sterkfontein, South Africa Image: Carl Bento © Australian Museum

Mammal diversity

The first mammals evolved about 190 million years ago. These early mammals were small, insect-eating creatures that lived at the same time as the dinosaurs. When the dinosaurs disappeared about 65 million years ago, mammals began to diversify into many forms. There are now about 4500 different species of mammals living in almost every environment on earth including the oceans, fresh water, on and below the ground, in the treetops and even in the sky.

Mammal features

All mammals (including humans) have the same distinctive features. These include:

  • fur or hair growing from the skin
  • mammary glands that, in females, produce milk for feeding the young
  • three bones (the malleus, incus and stapes) in the middle ear for transmitting sound to the inner ear
  • a single bone (the dentary) on each side of the lower jaw

Our place in the animal kingdom

Humans possess many unique characteristics but we also share a number of similarities with other animals.These similarities and differences are revealed through our genetic make-up, the ways our bodies are constructed and our behaviour. They help us to understand our place in the animal kingdom by allowing us to work out the evolutionary relationships between ourselves and other animals. Studies of our closest living relatives, the apes, also provide valuable clues about our early ancestors’ bodies and lifestyles.

Humans are classified as mammals because humans have the same distinctive features (listed above) found in all members of this large group.

Humans are also classified within:

  • the subgroup of mammals called primates;
  • and the subgroup of primates called apes and in particular the 'Great Apes'

Humans, however, also possess many unique characteristics and are therefore classified within a unique subgroup of the Great Apes called the hominins.

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Also in this section

  • Cast of partial cranium remains of <i>A. garhi</i> (type specimen BOU-VP-12/130) Australopithecus garhi
  • Reconstruction of death of A.africanus Do we know how some early human ancestors died?
  • Homo sapien skull cast Homo sapiens – modern humans
  • Australian Centre for Wildlife Genomics DNA lab 2015. How do we affect our evolution?
  • Paranthropus boisei skull Paranthropus genus
  • <i>A. anamensis</i> fossil skull, dubbed MRD, uncovered in 2016 at the Woranso-Mille site in the Afar region of Ethiopia Australopithecus anamensis
  • Homo rudolfensis skull cast Homo rudolfensis
  • ‘Mrs Ples’ Australopithecus africanus skull Australopithecus africanus
  • Fossil of Ardipithecus kadabba Ardipithecus kadabba
  • Illustration of a Chimpanzee skull Shorter jaws with smaller teeth
  • This a cast of a male gorilla, Gorilla gorilla, skull. Humans and other Great Apes
  • Tool cast spear point Some interesting connections

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Earth photographed from space.

The first migrations out of Africa

About 2 million years ago, the first of our ancestors moved northwards from their homelands and out of Africa.

Discover more Cast of partial cranium remains of <i>A. garhi</i> (type specimen BOU-VP-12/130)

Australopithecus garhi

This hominin lived 2.5 million years and, although similar to other australopithecines, it displayed some surprising features.

Discover more ‘Lucy’ Australopithecus afarensis skull

Australopithecus afarensis

This species is one of the best known of our ancestors.

Discover more Reconstructed Neanderthal man

What will we look like in the future?

Predicting what we will be like in the future has been the domain of science fiction writes for centuries

Discover more Liujiang Skull Homo sapiens angled view

The first modern humans in Southeast Asia

Archaeological evidence shows that modern humans had reached Southeast Asia by 70,000 years ago, however the oldest securely dated modern human remains are only about 40,000 years old.

Discover more Human on the Tree of Life

The human family tree

Our family tree extends back for five to seven million years to the time when our ancestors took their first two-legged steps on the path toward becoming human. During this vast period of time our family tree grew to include many ancestors representing different species from our evolutionary past

Discover more Skull of a Neanderthal youth

How do we know an individual’s age at death?

Scientists can sometimes work out how old an individual was at the time of their death. Their age at death is determined by examining their teeth and bones, and by understanding how quickly these structures develop within the bodies of our ancestors.

Discover more Paranthropus boisei skull

Sharing a common ancestor

Humans did not evolve from an ape - we are apes, and our closest living relatives include chimpanzees and gorillas.

Discover more Tool cast spear point

Some interesting connections

The trends and changes that made us human did not develop in isolation. There are some interesting connections between the four major trends.

Discover more Homo sapien skull cast

Homo sapiens – modern humans

All people living today belong to the species Homo sapiens. We evolved only relatively recently but with complex culture and technology have been able to spread throughout the world and occupy a range of different environments.

Discover more Horsehoof core stone tool

Complex technology

Our ancestors have been using tools for many millions of years. As our ancestors’ intelligence increased, they developed the ability to make increasingly more complex stone, metal and other tools, create art and deliberately produce and sustain fire.

Discover more Partial femur (BAR1002) of Orrorin tugenensis

Orrorin tugenensis

A key specimen of the human story, its position on our family tree is highly debated. Is it the oldest known hominin or should it be placed on the tree before the human line split from the line leading to chimpanzees?

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