ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Timeline of human evolution

Okay kiddo, let me explain the timeline of human evolution in a way that you'll understand. A long, long, time ago, there were creatures called apes that lived on Earth. They looked kind of like monkeys that you might see in the zoo, but they were different. Over time, some of these apes started to change and evolve, which means they started to look and act differently than their ancestors.

The first type of human-like species was called Australopithecus, which lived around 4 million years ago. They walked on two legs, which was different from apes who usually walk on all fours. They also had bigger brains and could use tools to help them survive.

After Australopithecus, there were other human-like species that evolved, each with their own unique features. For example, Homo habilis had even bigger brains and could make more advanced tools, like knives and scrapers.

Then came the Neanderthals, who lived in Europe and Asia around 400,000 years ago. They were really good at making tools and were very strong, but they didn't survive for as long as some of the other human-like species.

Finally, around 200,000 years ago, Homo sapiens (that's us!) started to evolve. We are very similar to the humans that lived thousands of years ago, but we have evolved and developed even more advanced tools, technology, and civilization.

So, now you know that humans didn't just appear one day, but evolved over millions of years from different types of apes. Pretty cool, right?