There’s several traits and qualities that separates us from the rest of the species in our primate family, and can be explored in the following: characteristics that define human behavior, what distinguishes homo sapiens from other species, and important contributions to the domestication of plants and …show more content…
Scientist are not sure when we began to communicate vocally because there is no fossilized proof of it. However making and using tools, dating back more than three hundred and fifty thousand years ago, involved complex methods and behaviors that required some form of communication. Prior to speech early humans used pigments to create complex symbols and representations in order to communicate about their unpredictable world (O’Neil). Communicating vocally required humans to evolve like no other species in order to produce speech. Speech required a brain large enough to maintain the ability to think abstractly and to communicate abstractions (Tignor 2011). It also required an allele of a gene which held the ability to comprehend grammar and to control the mouth movements necessary to produce words (O’Neil). Therefore humans are able to make and process more distinctive sounds than any other animal. Humans are able to pronounce fifty different phonemes, while apes are only able to produce twelve. With fifty phonemes, humans are able to produce and create more than one hundred thousand different words (Tignor