Human Evolution Timeline — NEET Biology
✅ Asked in NEET 2026About 15 mya, primates called Dryopithecus and Ramapithecus were existing. They were hairy and walked like gorillas and chimpanzees. Ramapithecus was more man-like while Dryopithecus was more ape-like. Few fossils of man-like bones have been discovered in Ethiopia and Tanzania. These revealed hominid features leading to the belief that about 3-4 mya, man-like primates walked in eastern Africa. They were probably not taller than 4 feet but walked up right. Two mya, Australopithecines probably lived in East African grasslands. Evidence shows they hunted with stone weapons but essentially ate fruit. Some of the bones among the bones discovered were different. This creature was called the first human-like being the hominid and was called Homo habilis. The brain capacities were between 650-800cc. They probably did not eat meat. Fossils discovered in Java in 1891 revealed the next stage, i.e., Homo erectus about 1.5 mya. Homo erectus had a large brain around 900cc.
NTA tests the chronological sequence of human ancestors from Dryopithecus (15 mya) → Ramapithecus → Australopithecines (2 mya) → Homo habilis → Homo erectus (1.5 mya). Students often confuse which species came first, or mix up their characteristics like brain capacity and upright walking ability. Remember: Ramapithecus was more man-like than Dryopithecus; Australopithecines walked upright but were short (~4 feet); Homo habilis had 650-800cc brain capacity; Homo erectus appeared last with 900cc brain. The key trap is reversing the timeline or attributing wrong traits to wrong species. Focus on the 'mya' dates and unique features of each hominid stage.
This paragraph was tested 2 times in NEET.
Evolution of human shows progressive development of brain and language. Correct sequence of species appearance is:
The chronological order of human evolution from early to the recent is: (NEET 2016)
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