Humans are animals, mammals, primates, and hominoids, and thus we share extensive similarities with each of these groups, especially our closest cousins, the apes. But we are also hominins, specifically genus Homo, species sapiens. Understanding our evolutionary history is understanding both what we have in common with other primates and what happened over the past 7 to 10 million years since our divergence from the other African ape lineages. Or more specifically, what happened in the two-million-year history of our own genus. There is robust evidence that our lineage underwent significant changes in bodies, behavior, and ecologies across the Pleistocene, resulting in the development of a human niche. This essay outlines the deep similarities, and the critical differences, between humans and the apes and offers an anthropological and evolutionary explanation for why we should care.

中文翻译：

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人和猿有何不同，以及为什么重要

人类是动物、哺乳动物、灵长类动物和类人猿，因此我们与这些群体中的每一个都有广泛的相似之处，尤其是我们最亲近的表亲猿。但我们也是人族，特别是人属，智人种。了解我们的进化历史就是了解我们与其他灵长类动物的共同点，以及自从我们与其他非洲猿类谱系分化以来在过去 7 到 1000 万年发生的事情。或者更具体地说，在我们自己属的两百万年历史中发生了什么。有强有力的证据表明，我们的谱系在整个更新世期间经历了身体、行为和生态的重大变化，导致了人类生态位的发展。本文概述了深刻的相似之处和关键的差异，