Man and the apes have developed from the same ancestors, although the main differences between them are man's larger brain and his ability to walk upright and speak.

The process by which modern man developed from his early ancestors is called evolution. Through fossils, very old bones preserved in layers of rock, we can imagine how man developed and changed from an ape-like creature to modern man, over a period of several hundred thousand years. Until recently, the oldest man-like fossil and one had discovered was called Australopithesus, about 1,750,000 years old. Then, in 1972, Dr Richard Leakey found a fossil skull in Kenya that had a much larger brain than the Australopthecus. This fossil was about 2,600 years old.

Several other fossils have been found which look more like modern man. One of these, called Pithecanthropus was very like us although he had jutting-out ridges over his eyes and some ape-like features. Other remains such as Java man and Pekeng man are Homo erectus.