Humans diverged from apes (chimpanzees, specifically) toward the end of the Miocene ~9.3 million to 6.5 million years ago. Understanding the origins of the human lineage (hominins) requires reconstructing the morphology, behavior, and environment of the chimpanzee-human last common ancestor. Modern hominoids (that is, humans and apes) share multiple features (for example, an orthograde body plan facilitating upright positional behaviors). However, the fossil record indicates that living hominoids constitute narrow representatives of an ancient radiation of more widely distributed, diverse species, none of which exhibit the entire suite of locomotor adaptations present in the extant relatives. Hence, some modern ape similarities might have evolved in parallel in response to similar selection pressures. Current evidence suggests that hominins originated in Africa from Miocene ape ancestors unlike any living species.

在中新世约930万至650万年前，人类从猿类（特别是黑猩猩）发散。要了解人类血统（人参）的起源，就需要重建黑猩猩和人类最后一个共同祖先的形态，行为和环境。现代类人猿（即人类和猿类）具有多个特征（例如，促进正直姿势行为的正统人体计划）。但是，化石记录表明，活的类人猿构成了分布更广泛，种类繁多的远古辐射的狭窄代表，这些辐射都没有表现出现存亲戚存在的整套运动适应能力。因此，一些现代的猿类相似性可能是响应相似的选择压力而平行发展的。