What is the position of man in the system of the animal world. Systematic position of man in the animal world. Homo sapiens species

Has its own characteristics. They are connected with the biosocial basis of Homo sapiens.

Man: taxonomy

On the one hand, man is an object of living nature, a representative of the Animal Kingdom. On the other hand, this is a social person who lives according to the laws of society and strictly obeys them. That's why modern science The taxonomy of man and the features of his origin are considered from both a biological and a social position.

Human taxonomy: table

Representatives of the taxa to which modern humans belong have a number of similar structural features. This is proof of the presence of their common ancestor and common path evolution.

Taxonomic unit	Similarities and characteristic features
Type Chordata	Formation of the notochord and neural tube at the initial stages of embryonic development
Subphylum Vertebrates	Formation of the inner which is the spine
Class Mammals	Feeding the young with milk, the presence of a diaphragm, differentiated teeth, pulmonary respiration, warm-bloodedness, intrauterine development
Order Primates	Five-fingered limbs, opposable thumb, 90% chimpanzee gene identity
Family Hominidae	Brain development, ability to walk upright
Rod Man	The presence of an arched foot, a free and developed upper limb, the presence of curves of the spine, articulate speech
Homo sapiens species	Intelligence and abstract thinking

Type Chordata

As you can see, the place of man in the taxonomy is clearly defined. The heterotrophic type of nutrition, limited growth, and the ability for active movement determine its belonging to the Animal Kingdom. But according to its characteristics, it is a representative of this systematic unit also includes the classes Bony and Cartilaginous fish, Reptiles, Amphibians and Birds.

How can such different organisms belong to the same type? It's all about their embryonic development. On early stages they develop an axial cord - a chord. The neural tube forms above it. And under the chord is the intestine in the form of a through tube. There are gill slits in the pharynx. As these embryonic structures develop in humans, they undergo a series of metamorphoses.

The spine develops from the notochord, and the spinal cord and brain develop from the neural tube. The intestine acquires a through structure. The gill slits in the pharynx become overgrown, as a result of which the person switches to pulmonary breathing.

Class Mammals

A typical representative of the class Mammals is man. Systematics classifies it into this taxon not by chance, but by a number of characteristic features. Like all representatives of mammals, humans feed their young with milk. This valuable nutrient is produced in specialized glands.

The taxonomy of Homo sapiens classifies it as a group of placental mammals. During intrauterine development, this organ connects the body of the mother and the unborn child. In the placenta, their blood vessels intertwine, and a temporary connection is established between them. The result of this work is the implementation of transport and protective functions.

The similarity between humans and other representatives of mammals also lies in the structural features of organ systems and the course of physiological processes. These include enzymatic digestion. Biologically active substances are secreted by the liver, salivary glands and pancreas. Common feature is also the presence of differentiated teeth: incisors, canines, large and small molars.

The presence of a four-chambered heart and two circles of blood circulation determines the warm-bloodedness of a person. This means that his body temperature does not depend on this indicator in the environment.

Homo sapiens species

According to the most common hypothesis, humans and some species of modern monkeys have the same ancestor. There is a number of evidence for this. The Hominid family is characterized by an important feature - upright walking. This trait was certainly associated with a change in lifestyle, which led to the release of the forelimbs and the development of the hand as an organ of labor.

The process of formation of a modern species took place in several stages: the most ancient, ancient and first modern people. These phases did not replace each other, but coexisted and competed with each other for a certain period.

The most ancient, or ape-people, knew how to independently make tools from stones, make fire, and lived in a primary herd. The ancients, or Neanderthals, communicated using gestures and rudimentary articulate speech. Their tools were also made of bone. Modern people, or Cro-Magnons, built their own homes or lived in caves. They sewed clothes from skins, knew pottery, tamed animals, and grew plants.

Man, whose taxonomy is determined by the totality of anatomy, physiology and behavioral reactions, is the result of long-term evolutionary processes.

, atavisms, rudiments, embryological, illnesses, chordates, vertebrates, hominids, People

Lesson type: study and initial consolidation of new knowledge.

Pedagogical technology: modular training.

Methods and techniques: collaboration in a small group, independent work with the text and pictures of the textbook.

Equipment: textbook, ed. D. V. Kolesova, manuals for students, table forms, pieces of paper, pencils, workbooks.

Lesson objectives: educational: develop knowledge about the relationship between humans and animals; teach to explain the relationship between humans and animals; developing: improve skills independent work with a textbook; educational: develop communication skills with each other and the teacher; continue to develop self-assessment skills.

Lesson Plan

1. Organizational moment.

2. UE - 0. Statement of a cognitive task.

3. UE - 1. Incoming control.

4 . UE - 2. Studying new material based on knowledge from the previous animal biology course.

5. UE - 3. Study and primary consolidation of the studied material.

6. UE - 4. Output control.

7. UE - 5. Summing up the lesson.

During the classes

1. Organizational moment.

2. UE - 0. Statement of a cognitive task.

Teacher. There are teaching aids on your desks (Appendix 1). Read the information given in the manual. What information do you think can be extracted from it?

Students. The methodological manual is an instruction for this lesson. You can find out what we will study in class, in what sequence, type of work, goals of each stage. You will be able to evaluate your work.

Teacher. Familiarize yourself with the content of the educational element - 0. Do you have questions about the purpose of the lesson? Do you understand what knowledge and skills will be developed in this lesson? If everything is clear, then we proceed to solving the problem of educational element-1. Familiarize yourself with the content of the training element – ​​1. What questions do you have?

If there are no questions, complete the tasks according to the instructions.

The purpose of this stage of the lesson: to recall the methods of proving the relationship of living organisms.

Write down the date and topic of the lesson in your notebooks. Read and complete the task: establish a correspondence between science and the subject of its study. Write the answer as a sequence of letters, separating each letter with a comma. The form of work is individual. Notes in notebooks. Task completion time - 5 minutes.

1. Anatomy

2. Physiology of organisms

3. Embryology

Science subject

A. Functions of organs and the body

B. Study of embryonic development

B. Structure of organs and the body

Teacher. Pay attention to the screen. You see the correct answer to the question. Check everyone's work. The rules for assessing work are given in your manual. Write down the points in your notebook. For the correct answer 2 points. If 50% of the work is completed, then 1 point.

UE – 1. B, A, B

Teacher. Proceed with the tasks of the next stage of educational element-2.

Goal: to determine the methods by which a person’s belonging to certain systematic groups is established.

2. Analyze what you read.

4. Prepare to defend your work.

Form of work: collaboration in a small group. Distribute the following roles: commander, secretary, consultants. Select a task according to the role you perform.

Groups are created upon request. The teacher must control the distribution of students into groups, since the composition of the groups should be approximately equal. The time spent creating groups is 1-2 minutes.

Fill out the table given in Appendix 2 with a simple pencil. Duration of work – 15 minutes.

Teacher. Attention. Let's move on to the next stage of work in the lesson.

Purpose: to justify the choice of methods for proving the relationship between humans and animals.

1. Name the methods of proving the relationship between humans and animals.

2. Explain the choice.

The group's answer is rated by the teacher on a five-point scale. Frontal work.

Each group answers a question about a specific systematic group along the chain. Sample answers are given in the table.

Methods for proving the relationship of humans with various groups of animals

Systematic group of animals	Methods for proving the relationship between humans and animals	Rationale
1. Animal Kingdom	Comparatively anatomical	Atavisms, rudiments
2. Type Chordata	Embryological	Similarity of embryos
3. Subtype Vertebrates	Comparatively anatomical	Similarities in the structure of the skeleton, circulatory and nervous systems
4. Class Mammals	Comparatively anatomical, physiological	Similarity in the structure of the lungs and heart, the presence of a diaphragm, constant Body temperature, feeding an infant with milk, carrying a fetus in the uterus
5. Order Primates	Comparatively anatomical	Similarity of structure: flat nails, five-fingered limb, structure of the hand
6. Family Hominids	Physiological	Same diseases
7. Genus Man	Comparatively anatomical,
8. Homo sapiens species (all people are of the same species)	Comparatively anatomical, physiological, embryological	Similarity of structure, functions of organs, embryonic development

Teacher. Familiarize yourself with the goals and objectives of educational element-4. Read the instructions for completing your response carefully. Do you have any questions about how to submit your response? If there are no questions, get to work.

Goal: complete the test. Duration of work – 4 minutes. The form of work is individual.

1. Complete the task according to the options.

Mark the correct statements with a “+” sign and the incorrect ones with a “-” sign. Formulate your answer as a sequence of mathematical symbols.

1. Man belongs to the phylum Chordata.

2. Man belongs to the phylum Vertebrates.

3. Species Homo sapiens is one of the species of the animal kingdom.

4. Rudiments are an example of a comparative anatomical group of evidence of the relationship between humans and animals.

5. Modern man belongs to the species Homo sapiens.

1. Man belongs to the order Primates.

2. Humans belong to the Vertebrates subtype.

3. Man belongs to the class Vertebrates.

4. Atavisms are one example of a comparative anatomical group of evidence of the kinship between humans and animals.

5. The presence of a diaphragm is one of the proofs that a person belongs to the class Mammals.

Students. Complete the task.

Teacher. Attention. We are finishing the work. We check the work. For each correct answer - 1 point. The correct answers are given on the board.

UE – 4. Var.1. + - +++; Var. 2.++-++

Teacher. Complete the tasks of the last stage of the lesson.

2. Select homework from the table.

Lesson grades and homework

		Homework
		Well done! Prepare your message

What is the place of man in the system of the organic world? This question seems to have been answered long ago, but is increasingly being challenged and revised.

The place of man in the system of the organic world

Briefly, we can say that the place of man is strictly defined in the classification of the organic world. He is a representative of the animal kingdom. The table shows its key ranks in the hierarchy of the biological world:

There are several groups of evidence that man is an animal and descended from them.

Animal origin of man

They say in favor of this:

Comparative anatomical evidence: similar cell structure, arrangement of organs, rudiments and atavisms in humans.

Embryological evidence: inside the womb on initial stage Developmentally, the baby is similar to the cubs of some animals. This is called Beer's law, and, in short, it postulates: the younger the embryo, the less specific characteristics it has.

Physiological similarities (breathing, nutrition, etc.) between humans and animals.

Similar chromosomal apparatus.

There are physiological characteristics of the human species that indicate that man’s place in the system of the organic world among animals:

Upright posture, arched foot, developed muscles of the lower extremities.

The structure of the spine with 4 curves.

Movable hands.

Brain volume and, accordingly, high organization of behavior.

Binocular vision.

Fecundity is limited: one female normally bears one fetus.

All these species and physiological characteristics brought man to a new stage of evolution.

Anthropogenesis and the formation of humanity

Anthropogenesis (the part of evolution that led to the emergence of humans) began with hominids. Human society gained the right to be called that and ceased to be a herd about 50 thousand years ago, when neoanthropes (Cro-Magnons) formed the new kind Homo sapiens.

Social, economic and religious laws began to determine the subsequent development of people. Progress began to go against biological nature. To be a member of society, you cannot behave like an animal and obey your instincts. The place and characteristics of man in the system of the organic world turned out to be such that the very right to be called a biological species was called into question.

What sets a person apart from the organic world

There are a number of highly developed organisms (for example, elephants or dolphins), what makes humans stand out from them? The high social component of people’s lives: their creative function, knowledge, work, consciousness, speech. All this takes the place of man in the system of the organic world beyond the usual framework accessible to other animals.

Fundamental differences between humans and the organic world

Man's place in the system of the organic world and his biosocial nature sometimes contradict each other. A person does not behave like an animal in several cases:

1. He is characterized by abstract thinking.
2. Family planning, not uncontrolled reproduction, according to instinct.
3. Consciousness (not just a highly developed brain, like dolphins, for example, not just a big brain in every sense of the word).
4. Speech.
5. A person is a part of society. People coexist in their artificially created habitat.

These five points reflect the social nature of man.

Abstract thinking

Abstract thinking is an ability inherent only to humans. Thanks to him, man’s place in the system of the modern organic world is unique. After a series of repetitions of certain actions and their consequences, many animals (especially primates) demonstrate creative thinking. They are able to remember the image, especially if they are hungry, and they need to imagine food. But the next step, abstract thinking, is not available to them. They are not capable of imagining and remembering, drawing conclusions and identifying a generalizing feature of something that does not exist, that cannot be touched or smelled.

The accumulation of experience, abstract conclusions, the ability to find ways out of various situations, analyze and, based on this, make decisions and take actions, reason, generalize concepts - the privilege of people.

This article does not aim to examine in detail the concept of abstract thinking, but it is worth giving an example of the gulf that separates one of the closest relatives - chimpanzees - from people. They belong to the family Hominidae. A typical experiment on them was carried out in the laboratory named after. I.P. Pavlova in Koltushi near St. Petersburg.

The chimpanzee Raphael had to put out the fire that was burning on the ledge of the shelf before eating. He quickly learned to use a cup and water for this purpose, which was offered to him in a tank and other containers. Then on the lake, on two rafts connected by a shaky crossing, they placed food on one (behind the fire, as always), and on the other a cup and a tank of water. The chimpanzee time and time again chose to make a difficult crossing to scoop up something in the tank, but ignored the whole lake of water. It became clear that he could not generalize this concept. For him, water is tied to the image of a tank. To be fair to Raphael, it is worth adding that when the water was removed from the tank, in the end, albeit by accident, he scooped up water from the lake and, after putting out the fire, received a treat.

Creation

The place of man in the system of the organic world is already the entire planet. People do not live strictly within the boundaries of their place of birth, but adapt their chosen place of life to their needs. And this is not always the most comfortable living environment. But people are transforming it. This is the simplest creation, responsible for covering urgent needs, but which arose as a result of the conscious choice of living in an unsuitable environment. People are literally going against biological selection. They do not look for the easiest possible habitats, but adapt very unsuitable ones.

There is creative creation. The desire to leave a mark on history, to influence the world, and not just to feed.

Speech

Another sign of human abstract thinking is speech. Even its very possibility. When certain natural phenomena are assigned a specific (and, by the way, abstract) concept - a word and its semantic meaning. It is not directly related to how and what the senses perceive in a specific period of time here and now. The image that each person forms about objects, of course, carries information-memories about weight, temperature and other associations. But words are also used to describe non-existent objects, those that cannot be touched with hands. Favorite examples of scientists are love or mathematical terms. How to describe the concept of seven?

Man is simply a highly developed animal

This is a problematic issue. Evidence of animal nature and human origins is considered. According to biology, man's place in the system of the organic world. There are anthropological factors that to some extent explain how physiological characteristics as a result could influence the formation of a highly developed individual and human society. But there is a long series of social factors that put a person on a different level. Is it possible to talk about a separate fifth kingdom of the organic world? Or continue to put forward theories on the topic: where did our race come from? Is the soul a separate matter from the body, or are these physiological processes that imitate consciousness, but remain chemistry?

To reconcile opposites, it is customary to talk about the biosocial nature of man.

The school curriculum has not yet moved away from a strict focus on evolution. Biology and zoology teachers do not always correctly emphasize that Darwin only put forward a theory. It is popular, but not supported by irrefutable evidence. On the contrary, there are still many questions, blind spots and arguments against.

Although the basic postulates of this theory are an obligatory part school curriculum, and you need to know them in order to be educated person with a broad outlook. But what speaks against the theory of the origin of species, except that the social nature of man is clearly expressed and his thinking is unique?

Darwin's theory of the origin of species: the main arguments against

As Darwin himself and his contemporaries argued: the idea of ​​evolution was in the air at that time. The genius of the most famous naturalist, the author of “The Origin of Species,” is that he formulated how from the small, over billions of years, the big comes. It is not the strongest who survive, but the one most adapted to constant change. environment. This is a brief formulation of natural selection.

Opponents of Darwinism appeal to the concept of irreducible complexity. Many organisms could not, in the process of evolution, gradually form (due to mutations) the advantages that they possess at this stage of development and thanks to which they survived in a certain habitat, in other words, they underwent natural selection.

Another main argument against the theory of evolution is the information complexity of chromosomes and, as a consequence, the DNA molecule. Such an ordered and long chain could not have been obtained by chance even over billions of billions of years. Moreover, given the enormous age of the Earth and the discovered fossils dating from very different periods, a sufficient number of missing links, transitional forms of life, which the theory of evolution assumes in large quantities among all species, have not been discovered.

The question of origin is most closely related to man’s place in the system of the organic world and his role. Perhaps it is the social component of people’s lives that is decisive. It imposes on humanity responsibility for the entire biosphere. The role and place of man in the system of the organic world was given to him for a reason - to protect and wisely manage the planet, regardless of whether people are part of the ecosystem, or are simply similar to other biological organisms, but have a higher origin and purpose of existence.

In accordance with modern scientific ideas, anatomically modern man is the result of the development of matter over 13.7 billion years and represents the most complexly organized variety of matter observed.

It is well known that man belongs to the world of multicellular creatures. Among the colossal number of multicellular forms, man belongs to the group of bilaterally symmetrical ones: the right and left halves of our body are related to each other like an object and its image in the mirror. Among bilaterally symmetrical organisms, man occupies a corresponding place in the animal kingdom.

The human body has many features in common with mammals: a spine, 7 cervical vertebrae, two pairs of lever-type limbs, a closed circulatory system, a four-chambered heart, anucleate red blood cells, hair, constant body temperature, pulmonary respiration, well-developed nervous system and sense organs. Humans are most similar to primates.

According to the criteria of zoological taxonomy, the species of “homo sapiens” (Homo sapiens), as part of a special family of hominids, belongs to the order of primates, class of mammals, subtype of vertebrates, type of chordates (Table No. 1).

Table No. 1

The place of modern man in the animal kingdom

Taxon	Latin Name	Russian name	Composition of this group of Animals
Kingdom		Animals	All animals
Type	Chordata	Chordata	All animals that have a notochord
Subtype	Vertebrata	Vertebrates	All animals with a backbone and 2 pairs of limbs
Class	Mammalia	Mammals	All warm-blooded animals covered with fur that give birth to live young
Squad	Primates	Primates	Prosimians, monkeys, apes and humans
Suborder	Haplorhini	Gaplorin- new	Tarsiers, monkeys, apes and humans
Infrasquad	Catarrhini	Narrow-nosed monkeys	Old World monkeys, apes and humans
Superfamily	Hominoidea	Hominoids	Apes and humans
Family	Hominidae	Hominids	Man and his ancestors
Genus	Homo	Actually people	Human
View	H. sapiens	-	Neoanthropus
Subspecies	H. sapiens sapiens	-	Anatomically modern human(s)

Taxonomy of representatives of the Primate order.

About 200 species of modern primates are known, grouped into 61 genera and 12 families (Table No. 2). Currently, the number of primates is rapidly declining. Over 60 of their species and subspecies are listed in the Red Book.

Living primates are divided into two main groups: strepsirrhines and haplorhines. The first group - strepsirrhinic primates - is the most ancient group of primates, which includes prosimians - the most primitive representatives of primates.

Rice. 1.1. Common tupaya Fig. 1.2. Mongoose lemur

This group includes 6 families: tupai (Fig. 1.1), lemurs (Fig. 1.2), loris (Fig. 1.3), indri, etc.

Strepsirrhine primates have comma-shaped nostrils that open onto the bare part of the tip of the nose; the upper lip of these primates is smooth, motionless and without hair. In addition to their more primitive morphology, prosimians are small in size and differ from real monkeys in behavior. They are almost exclusively nocturnal, insectivorous and herbivorous animals, living in groups, but some species are solitary.

The second group - haplorhin primates (have more rounded nostrils, bordered by the walls of the nose and opening onto a mobile, with a developed muscular layer, and hairy upper lip) - consists of three main taxa - tarsier, broad-nosed and narrow-nosed monkeys.

Tarsiers are a relict group living in Southeast Asia, similar to prosimians (Fig. 1.4). This group includes only one family, which unites animals the size of a rat; in a number of systematization schemes they are classified as higher primates. Tarsiers appeared in the Eocene, fossil groups were discovered in Europe and Northern

America.

Rice. 1.3. Slow loris Fig. 1.4. Philippine tarsier

Now they are preserved only on the Indonesian and Philippine islands. Modern tarsiers are exclusively nocturnal animals. A striking specialization for the nocturnal and twilight lifestyle is the huge eyes and ears of tarsiers. They live alone or in pairs, in bamboo thickets, on small trees or in cleared forests. Due to the jumping movement, the hind legs are very long, with a specialized foot (the calcaneus and navicular bones are greatly elongated, the tibia and fibula are partially fused, and the big toe is enlarged for grasping). They feed on insects, spiders, and small lizards.

The broad-nosed and narrow-nosed monkeys are a group of anthropoid great apes. They are also called monkeys of the New and Old Worlds. About 35 million years ago, the Americas separated from Eurasia and Africa, so broad-nosed monkeys developed there in isolation. In most New World monkeys, the cartilaginous nasal septum is wide and the nostrils are widely separated and outward facing. Modern broad-nosed monkeys are represented by arboreal monkeys of two families - game monkeys and cebids, living in tropical wet forests Central and South America, these are almost completely arboreal, herd animals, they almost never go down to the ground, they eat mainly plants and insects. Externally they are very diverse, their behavior is sometimes very complex. Morphology is characterized by a combination of some primitive features in the structure of the skull and very specialized features in the structure of the body, for example, a grasping tail. Broad-nosed animals are characterized by the formation of “mixed flocks”, which include representatives different types monkeys and sometimes even raccoons and birds.

The size of broad-nosed monkeys ranges from mouse to dog. Broad-nosed animals are diurnal animals, except for a few species that are nocturnal.

In the Old World, primates developed more intensively and adapted to a terrestrial lifestyle. The monkeys of Eurasia and Africa have a narrower nasal septum and nostrils, like those of humans, point downwards. The narrow-nosed monkeys are divided into two groups: the lower narrow-nosed monkeys and the apes - hominoids.

Among modern lower narrow-nosed monkeys, only one family is distinguished - the marmosets, this family includes monkeys, macaques, mandrills, baboons, thin-bodied monkeys, colobus monkeys, proboscis monkeys, langurs - living in Africa, Asia and Europe (Gibraltar).

Rice. 1.5. Proboscis Fig. 1.6. Japanese macaque

Morphologically they differ from pongids by having a simpler brain and the presence of a tail (Fig. 1.5, Fig. 1.6). Marmosets are one of the most evolutionarily successful groups of monkeys. All species are diurnal. There are both terrestrial and arboreal monkeys. They took

quite a wide range ecological niches, all representatives are gregarious and herbivorous.

Rice. 1.7. Chimpanzee Fig. 1.8. Gorilla

Hominoids include modern humans and their closest relatives - pongidae - great apes. Modern apes (chimpanzees, gorilla, orangutan, gibbon) represent forms that, about 10-15 million years ago, deviated from the line of development common with humans (Fig. 1.7, Fig. 1.8). These are large-sized monkeys that lead a diurnal, gregarious lifestyle and are herbivorous. Large pongids - orangutans, gorillas and chimpanzees - lead a terrestrial lifestyle, while smaller ones - gibbons - are completely arboreal animals. Gibbons and orangutans inhabit Southeast Asia, gorillas, chimpanzees - equatorial Africa.

Therefore, they are divided into two groups: Asian forms, which include the orangutan and gibbon, and African forms, which include the chimpanzee and gorilla - this is the largest living primate. Humans are more closely related to African apes. Of these, chimpanzees are the closest to humans anatomically and behaviorally.

The genus Chimpanzee includes two modern species: the common chimpanzee and the bonobo, or pygmy chimpanzee.

The common chimpanzee is distributed in equatorial Africa, where it lives in tropical rain and mountain forests. These are large monkeys with a total body length of up to 1.5 m, body weight 45-50 kg, sometimes up to 80 kg. Chimpanzees feed mainly on plant foods, occasionally termites and ants. Chimpanzees hunt small animals with some regularity. It is typical that their behavior changes dramatically. For example, altruism appears - they share meat, and also the established hierarchy ceases to operate in the group - even a dominant individual cannot take meat from a subordinate individual.

The pygmy chimpanzee lives in a small area between the Congo and Luabala rivers. It is significantly smaller in size than an ordinary chimpanzee, slender, its facial skin is black, and the hair on the sides of its forehead is longer. It is characteristic that the pygmy chimpanzee often moves on its hind legs, carrying various objects in its hands, for example, nuts. Chimpanzees have very advanced use of tools, for example, they crack nuts with stones.

Modern man stands out quite sharply from other hominoids in some characteristics and is extremely similar to them in a number of others. Modern man inhabits the entire planet, is adapted to a diurnal lifestyle and is omnivorous.

In this lesson you will learn about the relationship between humans and other animal species. Find out the systematic position of the species Homo sapiens in the modern classification of living beings, get acquainted with the features that unite us with other mammals. The structural features of our body will also be considered, which distinguish humans from other animals and make our biological species unique and inimitable among other unique species.

Man like Living being, is part of the animal world. Our species belongs to the phylum Chordata, subphylum Vertebrates, class Mammals, subclass Placental mammals, order Primates, family Hominids, genus Homo sapiens (Diagram 1).

Scheme 1. The place of man in the system of living organisms

The fact that our species belongs to the kingdom Animalia is convincingly proven by our morphology, cytology and physiology.

Belonging to the phylum Chordata is visible at the stage of intrauterine development. The human embryo has a notochord, a neural tube located above the notochord, and a heart located on the ventral side under the digestive tract.

Human belonging to the Vertebrate subtype is determined by the replacement of the notochord with a spine, a developed skull and jaw apparatus, as well as two pairs of limbs (Fig. 1) and a brain consisting of five sections.

Rice. 1. The skeletons of humans and frogs have similar features that are characteristic of all vertebrates

The presence of hair on the surface of the body, five sections of the spine, a four-chambered heart, a highly developed brain, sweat, sebaceous, mammary glands, as well as warm-bloodedness allows us to classify a person as a mammal.

The development of the fetus inside the mother’s body in the uterus and its nutrition through the placenta belongs to the subclass of Placental mammals.

The presence of forelimbs of the grasping type, in which the first finger is positioned opposite to the other fingers, nails, well-developed clavicles, as well as the change of milk teeth in the process of ontogenesis and bearing, mainly, one baby allows us to classify a person as a member of the Primate order. At the order level, the similarity between humans and other animals ends.

The characteristics that allow us to separate the Human family from other primates are unique to humans. In the family Humans there is only one genus, Humans, in which there is only one modern look A reasonable person.

Let's look at the characteristics that distinguish humans from other animals.

First of all, this is higher nervous activity. A person has a developed second signaling system (see 8th grade lesson Higher Nervous Activity), which is responsible for the perception of speech, and also has perfectly developed logical thinking, memory, abstract thinking. These abilities arise due to the developed cerebral cortex. Humans have the largest ratio of brain mass to body mass of all animals.

The second difference is the skeletal features responsible for true upright posture. Our spine has 4 curves that optimally transfer the weight of our vertical body to our legs (Fig. 2).

Rice. 2. The human spine is adapted to true upright posture

And the legs have arched feet that can withstand the load when running and jumping (see video).

A flexible hand, in principle, is characteristic of many primates, but only in humans has it achieved such flexibility that it allows you to easily manipulate both small and heavy objects.

Moreover, the movements can be both powerful and very subtle, allowing, for example, embroidery or writing (see video).

Upright posture, developed hands and a powerful brain allowed man to produce tools - from a pointed stick to a space satellite (Fig. 3).

Rice. 3. Artifacts of ancient (spears - on the left) and modern (space satellite - on the right) people

Some birds and other primates are able to use found tools, such as stones and sticks. But none of them is able to make a special weapon for themselves.

The second signaling system made it possible to create a very highly organized society. No pack of animals is capable of such subtle and effective interaction, as human society (see video).

Thus, from a biological systematics point of view, man is an animal from the order Primates. It has all the tissues and organ systems characteristic of other primates.

The human genotype differs from the genotype of the closest apes, such as bonobo pygmy chimpanzees, by one percent. At the same time, man, unlike animals, has a developed abstract thinking, able to produce and use tools. He exists in a society in which there is a division of labor and which is governed by speech.

Bibliography

1. A.A. Kamensky, E.A. Kriksunov, V.V. Beekeeper. General biology, 10-11 grade. - M.: Bustard, 2005. Download the textbook from the link: ( )
2. D.K. Belyaev. Biology 10-11 grade. General biology. A basic level of. - 11th edition, stereotypical. - M.: Education, 2012. - 304 p. (