Homo habilis

{{title-italics}}[[File:Homo habilis in Kulturama.jpg|thumb|right|165px|How much do you think the [[tooth fairy]] gave him?]]{{evolution}}
'''''Homo habilis''''' ("handy man") is one of the earliest pre-human/[[human]] species in the [[genus]] ''homo''.

==Description==
It was so named because tools were found associated with its bones (though tool making is now thought to pre-date ''homo habilis'').<ref> [http://humanorigins.si.edu/evidence/human-fossils/species/homo-habilis Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History: ''Homo habilis'']</ref> ''Habilis'' may<ref>[http://www.ecotao.com/holism/hu_habilis.htm ''Homo habilis'']</ref> or may not<ref>[http://www.macroevolution.net/homo-habilis.html Macroevolution.net: ''Homo habilis'' - A large-brained precursor of modern humans]</ref> have used fire.<ref group=note>The use of fire might have been developed 1.6 million years ago when ''Habilis'' and ''[[Homo erectus]]'' were around together.</ref><ref>[http://www.dichotomistic.com/mind_readings_fire.html Homo erectus was pretty smart already judging by evidence that fire had been discovered over 1.6 million years ago]</ref> ''Habilis'' still shows some adaptations for climbing trees.

The brain size, stature, and diet of ''Homo habilis'' were more like the [[australopithecine]]s than later [[hominid|hominids]], though the brain was 20% bigger and differently shaped and dentition was different. Despite this, there is controversy over whether they should be included in ''homo'' or rather be considered australopithecines.<ref>[http://www.becominghuman.org/node/news/who-was-homo-habilis Who ''was Homo habilis''?]</ref><ref>[http://www.becominghuman.org/node/homo-habilis-essay Becoming Human: ''Homo habilis'']</ref> There is even uncertainty as to whether or not the specimen discovered was an australopithecine or an atypical ''[[Homo erectus]]'', as it is similar to both.<ref>[http://archaeologyinfo.com/homo-habilis/ archaeologyinfo.com: ''Homo habilis'']</ref>

==''Homo rudolfensis''==
{{hatnote|Main article: [[Homo rudolfensis]]}}
Recent fossil finds show ''Homo rudolfensis'' might have been a distinct species from ''homo habilis''.<ref>[http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-19184370 New human species identified from Kenya fossils]</ref>

==Realist view==
[[File:Skull evolution.png|center|thumb|920px|Skulls of successive (or near-successive, depending on the source) human evolutionary ancestors]]
Late australopithecines and early ''Homo erectus'' were so similar that assigning ''Homo habilis'' to one or the other is difficult. There is no clear distinction between what [[creationists]] call the [[ape]] "[[Baramin|kind]]" and the human "kind." This is because austalopithecines changed slowly over time and each generation was just slightly different than the one before, meaning there was no day when an australopithecine gave birth to a ''Homo habilis''. Any protohuman fossils from a borderline period such as this would be difficult to categorize because the exact dividing lines between the categories are, ultimately, arbitrary: in a given series of bones that look gradually less like one species and more like another one over time, there isn't necessarily one obvious spot to pick as a divider.

==See also==
*[[Hominid]]
*''[[Homo erectus]]''

==External links==
*[http://evolutionwiki.org/wiki/Homo_habilis ''Homo habilis''] &mdash; EvoWiki article
*[http://morphosource.org/index.php/Detail/MediaDetail/Show/media_id/6228 EA-CCC-04, ''Homo habilis''] &mdash; Data from a 3D scan of an ''H. habilis'' fossil skull
*[http://morphosource.org/index.php/Detail/MediaDetail/Show/media_id/6309 EA-CCC-05, ''Homo habilis''] &mdash; Data from a 3D scan of an ''H. habilis'' fossil mandible
*[http://morphosource.org/index.php/Detail/MediaDetail/Show/media_id/7411 EA-DCC-08, ''Homo habilis''] &mdash; Data from a 3D scan of ''H. habilis'' fossil left foot bones
==Notes==
{{reflist|group=note}}
==References==
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[[Category:Hominids]]
[[Category:History]]
[[Category:Biology]]
[[Category:Transitional fossils]]

Categories: Hominids, History, Biology, Transitional fossils