Shifting scientific classifications can create confusion about our own species. This piece clarifies the terminology of human evolution and our status as the last surviving species of *Homo*.
The terminology surrounding human evolution can be confusing, leading to questions about our own species. With a history that includes many different but related human species, it is reasonable to wonder about our status. Are modern humans, known scientifically as Homo sapiens, an extinct species?
Homo sapiens as a species is not extinct; every human alive today belongs to this species. We are what scientists refer to as anatomically modern humans. This classification is based on a collection of specific skeletal traits, including a high, rounded skull, a small face, a pronounced chin, and a lighter build compared to other archaic human species.
Modern humans first appeared in Africa around 300,000 years ago. For most of our history, we shared the planet with several other human species. While our ancestors experienced severe population bottlenecks that brought them close to extinction nearly a million years ago, our species ultimately survived and expanded across the globe.
Much of the confusion stems from an outdated classification system. For a period, scientists used the term Homo sapiens sapiens to identify modern humans, distinguishing them from Neanderthals, then considered a subspecies: Homo sapiens neanderthalensis. This naming convention implied both were different populations within the same species.
This classification has been revised. Most researchers now classify Neanderthals as a distinct species, Homo neanderthalensis, based on anatomical and genetic differences. Although interbreeding occurred, the scientific consensus favors classifying them separately. This makes the extra “sapiens” redundant, so the scientific name for modern humans is simply Homo sapiens.
For thousands of years, Homo sapiens coexisted with other human species. The best-known of these are the Neanderthals (Homo neanderthalensis), who lived in Europe and Western Asia until about 40,000 years ago. They were adapted to colder climates and had a stockier build than modern humans.
Another group, the Denisovans, are known primarily from genetic evidence found in Siberia and Asia. DNA analysis shows that, like Neanderthals, they also interbred with early Homo sapiens.
Farther back in our lineage is Homo erectus, a very successful species that existed for nearly two million years before disappearing. The extinction of these and other hominins like Homo floresiensis highlights that our species, Homo sapiens, is the sole survivor of a once diverse human family tree.