Much of what we have recently read and watched regarding hominids focused heavily on the similarities they shared with modern-day non-human primates. There was a multitude of qualities and traits which can be observed, such as practices of violence, food consumption, and physical likeness, with which we are able to gather a great deal of information regarding human evolution. The ability to utilize these observable traits along with the input of other archaeological subfields, such as paleoanthropology, allows for a greater understanding of specific evolutionary attributes which may have catalyzed the structure of modern human biology. The study of modern primates offer insight into hominin and hominid evolution and thus the evolution of humans today. The species hominins refer to any species of early humans who share a higher amount of relatedness to humans than to non-human primates. This differs from hominids in that hominids refers to all modern as well as extinct great apes, such as gorillas and chimpanzees, as well as humans and their immediate ancestors.

One of the main differences that can be used to distinguish homimins from hominids is the hominin use of bipedal movement, which is not seen in hominids. As is always seen in classic textbook examples of human evolution, this transition from using four limbs to move around to using only two legs represents a stark and important difference in these species. As well as being simply an important distinguishing feature used to identify these species, it also highlights a great deal of change among the habits and abilities between the two as well. Bipedal movement insinuates a multitude of evolutionary advantages, such as faster movement and easier access to things at different elevations. This can be used in a multitude of ways, such as a protection tactic for escaping from possible adversaries to everyday dietary habits such as increased food access.

Another trait which differentiates hominins from hominids is the relative sizes of their brains. A hominin had quite a small brain for how large its head was, which is theorized as being a reason why the brain was able to evolve to the size it is now. The ability for it to expand to fill all its empty space could have been the reason for this evolutionary change, which allowed for the progression of an immense amount of functions which furthered their mental and physical capabilities. This is where the classic Darwinian survival of the fittest comes into play, as those who possessed brains which were larger and thus allowed for more functionality were more likely to survive for a longer period of time and thus had more opportunity to pass down these desirable traits to their offspring, which furthered this positive trait evolution. 

These conclusions based on characteristics are often made based upon skeletal remains of a species, in a practice known as paleoanthropology. This field contributes heavily to our understanding of our own evolutionary history and provides a continuously expanding blueprint for the potential links which exist in our evolutionary ancestry. The study of skulls and other fossilized remains provides insight into the subtle changes which took place and eventually allowed for such massive changes to be made to the structure of our bodies as well as minds. There is only so much that can be insinuated based upon modern understandings of primate and human relations, and only so much can be gathered based on observation of living creatures alone. That is why paleoanthropology is so pivotal to the continuing understanding of our own species, for the remains of hominins and hominids alike allow us to see into specific moments in the past. This not only helps to reconstruct our bone structure and the progression of our physical states but also the knowledge of what our ancestors did with these newly evolved traits and how that helped to shape the course of history.