We explain what a human is and what species it belongs to. In addition, the behaviors that characterize the human being.
What is a human?
An individual of the species is called humanHomo sapiens (in Latin: "wise man"), belonging to the hominid family, order of the primates, and the dominant species of the planet Earth nowadays. It is a bipedal, mammalian species, capable of reasoning and modifying its environment to its benefit and convenience, as well as making tools and using them with its upper extremities.
The oldest evidence of human presence on the planet is about 315,000 years old, when our species it was just one among others of the genreHomo.
But after the disappearance ofHomoneardentalis ("Man of the Neardental") about 28,000 years ago and also fromHomofloresiensis ("Man of Flowers" orHobbit) about 13,000 years ago, we are the only species of the genus left. The reasons for this are unknown, but parts of the DNA of our ancestors survives in ours.
The set of humans is calledhumanity. And there is a slight conceptual distinction between a human and a human being, although biologically or scientifically there is no such.
This distinction has to do with what human is any member of the species, while a human being is someone whose behavior, conduct Y moral values or ethical are, at least in the most extreme cases, compatible or similar to those professed and defended by the rest of humanity.
Humans are also social or gregarious beings, who prefer to live in the company of our species than alone. We are the only living beings capable of communicating verbally, that is, through a language articulated with capacity for meaning and capacity for symbolic abstraction. This is due to the complexity of our brain, the result of our particular evolution.
Formerly, human and man were used as synonyms, but it is not advisable to do so since it involves an invisibility of the female gender, preferring to speak of "human beings" or "humans".