Scientists want to identify your earliest ancestor. And to do that, they have to look back in time. Way, way back.
Let’s climb up your family tree. The first people we’ll meet are your parents, then your grandparents and their parents. Keep climbing and we’ll meet more parents of parents, and parents of parents of parents.
Eventually we’ll zip through hundreds of thousands of years and ancestors. This tour will cross continents and oceans. Modern humans first walked the planet more than 300,000 years ago, so you have a lot of family to get through.
Scientists Say: Evolution
If we keep going back — say 6 million to 8 million years — we’ll find the first upright-walking creature that’s not only your ancestor, but also the ancestor of other primates living today, such as monkeys, chimps and lemurs. So if you want to plan a family reunion, you’ll need to invite not only every person alive, but also every primate you can track down. (That will be a lot of invitations!)
Further up the family tree, about 180 million years back, you’ll find ...
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