Homininae
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Gorilla Pan (chimpanzees) Homo (humans) |
Homininae is a subfamily of Hominidae, including Homo sapiens and some extinct relatives, as well as the gorillas and the chimpanzees. It comprises all those hominids, such as Australopithecus, that arose after the split from the other (still living) apes.
Originally the term 'Hominidae' was itself used in the sense of human or humanoid as opposed to ape. But it was then recognized that humans and the great apes are so close that they belong in the same family. At that point, Orangutans were then separated out into their own family, but that too was inaccurate, so they were all lumped into 'Hominidae', with 'Homininae' used in the sense of human or humanoid, and all the greater apes in 'Ponginae'. More recently, the gorillas and chimpanzees were again recognized as being more closely related to humans than to orangutans, and placed into 'Homininae' with humans.