The Term Homo sapiens Literature & Language Essay Paper

Homo sapiens
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Homo sapiens
The term Homo sapien came to existence for the first time in the year 1758 courtesy of Carolus Linnaeus, who was a significant figure in zoological taxonomy (Tattrsall, 2010). The term means "wise man," and it was used to distinguish human beings from apes such as gorillas and orangutans, among many others. This distinction was made possible through taxonomy, which is the science of classifying, naming, and defining living organisms based on common characteristics. Though Homo sapiens shared several physical characteristics with the apes, it was a daring thing to categorize Homo sapiens in the same group with apes since the former had exhibited cognitive and more reasonable capabilities compared to the latter.
Some of the characteristics of Homo sapiens that are that make it different from apes include shorter base skulls with higher braincase. Homo sapiens also have reduced neck muscles, relatively smaller faces with projected nose bones, taller forehead, and finally, its eye sockets are square. Above all, unlike other organisms within the gene category, Homo sapiens have stood out as the most intelligent. Although the term Homo sapien was first published in 1758, several controversies associated with it. These controversies range from the time of its discovery and their behavioral evolvement, among many other elements.
The major controversy about the existence and evolution of Homo sapien lies in the origin of the species. Several studies and researches have indicated that the Homo sapien species first appeared in Africa more than 200,000 years ago before migrating to various parts of the world. However, recent discoveries have attempted to change this notion. For instance, according to Wong (2019), the recently reported fossil found in an Israeli cave pushes the earliest known occurrence of Homo sapien further back with more than tens of thousands of years. Tattersall (2010), on the other hand...