Biologists classify organisms into species. Animals are said to belong to the same species if they tend to mate with each other, giving birth to fertile offspring. Species that evolved from a common ancestor are bunched together under the heading ‘genus' (plural genera). Lions, tigers, leopards and jaguars are different species within the genus Panthera.
Biologists label organisms with a two-part Latin name, genus followed by species. Lions, for example, are called Panthera leo , the species leo of the genus Panthera.
So, we, Homo-Sapiens, are the member of the genus Homo as Homo-Erectus, Homo-Neanderthalensis, Homo-Rudolfensis were. Humans usually think that their genus is unique and they do not share it with any other species, however to be the only survived member of genus does not mean that we are the only member of this genus. It just means that our relatives could not survive.
Homo-Erectus (upright man) lost this war approximately 70.000 years ago while his journey began 1.9 million years ago. This means that they had lived and survived 1.8 million years. If we compare them with sapiens that started their journey from savannahs nearly 200.000 years ago, we would see their success of evolutionary adaptation which is magnificent.
It is generally thought that H. Erectus originated in Africa and spread from there, migrating throughout Eurasia as far as Georgia, India, Sri Lanka, China and Indonesia. Erectus could reach 1,8 meter height and 60 kg and they had capability of use fire and tools.
They were the first Homo specie who had domesticated and used fire. Maybe the power of fire had opened the long way of their survival. Since, fire means
- protection from the other hunters
- cooking which protects us from many diseases and broaden our food list
- One single man with a torch could burn an entire forest and gather burned animals
- Socialize around it.
Erectus had a brain with a nearly 1100 cubic centimetre. This and many other fossil evidences show us that they communicated in each other in proto-language which is more and more complex than chimpanzees and could not be compared with ours.
