Hominins, or bipedal apes, can allow us to take a closer look at our modern human biology. One hominin trait that allows evolution to be seen clearly is teeth. Humans have canines that do not extended past our other teeth, showing that we have evolved to use our canines not as canines, but instead as incisors. In chimpanzees, you can see the canine teeth extending far past the molars, showing that they used the teeth for fighting. In contrast, humans do not use their teeth for fighting, instead the primary use is eating. Species between chimps and humans show slight reduction of canines to become level with the other teeth. This shows that through evolution our ancestors the function of teeth have changed progressively from fighting to simply eating.

Another hominin traits is brain size. Although chimpanzees have relatively large brains relative to apes, they have small brains relative to humans. Throughout evolution, brain size has increased, with chimps having relatively small brains and humans having relatively big brains. Over time, use of tools and communication through language began becoming more prevalent and pertinent. With this, the brain became both larger and more complex due to having to process and store more information. As time as gone one, brains of our ancestors have slowly become more complex in nature. A bigger brain allows more functionality, showing that those with bigger brains who could process more information were the ones to survive due to increased mental capacity.

Lastly, being bipedal is a trait that allows us to see the evolution to modern day humans. Although chimpanzees are able to walk upright, it is merely a temporary method of transit for them, meaning they only stand upright when they have the propulsion to move them due to the fact that their skeleton does not move that way normally so they rely on muscle strength for this motion. As evolution occurred, skeletal structure changed to allow standing on two feet and walking to be a normal movement the body allowed. One theory of why bipedalism occurred is because it allows one to walk and eat or carry food at the same time, making it easier to transport food for primates.

Fossilized skeletal remains of early human ancestors allow anthropologists to help learn from the past due to being able to connect the dots between reconstructed skeletons and comparing them with prior ancestors, as well as present day human remains. Skeletal remains allow for us to learn how our ancestors bodies have evolved to become the bodies that we have today. For example, the discovery of grasping toes in our ancestors. Grasping toes have evolved into what we call our fingers, both with similar functions of grasping. Grasping toes were first used to help primates climb from tree to tree, grabbing hold of the next tree to ensure they did not fall. Although we do not climb from tree to tree, modern day fingers are used to grab hold of things in our daily use, such as when we eat food.