In the 2013 film 'the Croods' we follow a caveman family who navigate a changing climate (and impending doom). Instead of analysing the actual movie, i'm gonna be a bio weirdo and decide which species the Croods are. so, let us begin....
So, we have a bipedal family (walk around on two legs) throughout the movie. Sandy (the very small child) walks quadrupedal, though this could be due to her being a toddler (a very murderous one at that). They have relatively small teeth and jaws, with a small fore head but also a small degree of prognathism. Using this facial structure, we can eliminate the Australopithecus genus.
Their clothing is reletively complex, being form fitting and made of different materials, likely using some form of sewing. Eep also wears a necklace, suggesting their are capable of more complex thought, potentially with the necklace having a symbolic meaning. They use very basic tools, but not fire, suggesting that they are part of the Oldowan tool structure. When it comes to their hunting tactics, they use communication but not a large amount of tools, also fitting in with the Oldowan tool culture. Their shelter is a natural cave, rather than a free standing hand made shelter, suggesting that they are from the early homo genus. They are shown to eat foods such as raw eggs and meat, which is high (but would be higher if they were cooked) in energy, compared to fibrous plants.
Using this information, I would predict that they are either late Homo Erectus or early Homo Heidelbergensis (hypothesised to be the predecessor to Homo Neanderthals). Both these species are primarily bipedal, have smaller foreheads and use early stone tool culture. How ever, with the Croods, there are a few weird features. They are shown to have complex thought such as grief when Grug is left behind and they mourn his death by blowing their shell horns. They also have very advanced clothing, which could possibly just be a design choice, but where is the fun in that? These features fit better with the Neanderthal genus, so they are a weird species. They also use art (shown by Grugs story telling) which makes this a little more complicated to get a definitive species.
In conclusion, I believe that the Croods family are members of the late Homo Erectus/ early Homo Heidelbergenis species, as shown by both their biological and cultural evolution demonstrated within the film.
In the initial narration, Eep suggested they are neanderthals, but I don't really care. Its a movie anyways.
