Humans and monkeys are both primates. Nevertheless, humans are not descended from monkeys or any other primates living today. We do share a common ape ancestor with chimpanzees. It lived between 8 and 6 million years ago. As the below human phylogenetic tree diagram suggests, a phylogenetic tree is a branching diagram or a tree showing the evolutionary relationships among various biological species or other entities based upon similarities and differences in their physical or genetic characteristics. As the below human phylogenetic tree suggests, one of the earliest known humans is Homo Habilis, who lived about 2.4 million to 1.4 million years ago in Eastern and Southern Africa.
