Hominidae

▪ anthropological family

      in zoology, one of the two living families of the ape superfamily Hominoidea, the other being the Hylobatidae ( gibbons). Hominidae includes the great apes—that is, the orangutans (genus Pongo), gorillas (Gorilla), and chimpanzees and bonobos (Pan)—as well as human beings (Homo). Formerly, humans alone (with their extinct forebears) were placed in Hominidae, and the great apes were placed in a different family, Pongidae. However, morphological and molecular studies now indicate that humans are closely related to chimpanzees, while gorillas are more distant and orangutans more distant still. Since classification schemes aim to depict relationships, it is logical to consider humans and great apes as hominids, that is, members of the same zoological family, Hominidae. Within this family there are considered to be two subfamilies. One (called Ponginae) contains only the orangutans, and the other (Homininae) contains humans and the African great apes. Subfamily Homininae in turn is divided into two “tribes”: Gorillini, for the African great apes and their evolutionary ancestors, and Hominini, for human beings and their ancestors. Following this classification, members of the human tribe, that is, modern human beings and their extinct forebears (e.g., the Neanderthals, Homo erectus, various species of Australopithecus), are frequently referred to as hominins.

      It has been proposed (though not generally accepted) that chimpanzees and bonobos be placed in their own tribe, called Panini, since they are relatively distant genetically from Gorillini, or even that they should be placed within the same tribe (Hominini) and genus (Homo) as humans, since their ancestors separated relatively recently (about 5 million years ago).

      All members of Hominidae share complex cognitive attributes: for example, they all can learn to recognize themselves in mirrors (an ability that is taken to indicate a degree of self-awareness), and as far as is known they are the only animals (with the exception of the bottlenose dolphin) that can do this.

* * *