Yohannes Haile-Selassie / , Cleveland Museum of Nature
A. I don’t say He walked on two feet, had an opposable toe and lived in trees. He was more primitive than his cousin Lucy.
One fossilized footdiscovered in Ethiopia, reveals a new species of primateswhich are contemporaries of the species of , the most famous Australopithecus afarensisaccording to a scientific study published this Wednesday.
This discovery, the most recent development in the history of human evolution, may even cast doubt on the status of the species. Australopithecus afarensis as a direct ancestor of Homo sapiens.
Until the discovery of this foot in Burtele, in northeastern Ethiopia, in 2009, Lucy’s species was considered the only ancestor of man, having lived in this region more than three million years ago.
However, the fossilized foot does not belong to Lucy’s species, as has an opposable finger, similar to a thumbwhich allowed its owner to cling to tree branches, like monkeys.
In 2015, the team of scientists who deduced the existence of a previously unknown species of hominid, the I don’t say Australopithecusbased on jaws around 3.4 million years old, also found in Burtele. This announcement was met with some skepticism in scientific circles, ready to debate attempts to add a new branch to humanity’s family tree.
The discovery was made near the site where, in 1974, the skeleton of the famous Lucy, the oldest known hominid, was found.
In the new study, in the journal Nature this Wednesday, scientists eliminated doubts and confirmed through new fossils, including a jaw with 12 teethdiscovered at the site, that the foot belonged to the species I don’t say Australopithecus.
“We have no doubt that Burtele’s foot belongs to the same species as these teeth and this jaw,” said the study’s lead author, Yohannes Haile-Selassiefrom the University of Arizona.
A scan of the uncovered teeth suggests that the I don’t say Australopithecus was more primitive than its cousin Lucy, according to the study.
Toes played a crucial role in the human evolution toward terrestrial bipedalism. New research suggests that I don’t say Australopithecus spent most of their time in the forest and treeswhile the Australopithecus afarensislike Lucy, was more earthy. This difference in habitat allowed the two species to coexist.
“Coexistence is deeply rooted in our ancestry”, highlighted researcher Yohannes Haile-Selassie.
Paleolithic archaeologist at the British University of Southampton, John McNabb, who was not involved in the study, welcomed this new research.
“There will always be skeptics, but I think these new discoveries, along with the validation of previous ones, will help many researchers better accept the I don’t say Australopithecus“, said the expert, adding that the discovery “adds a new element to the equation” in the search for the identity of our true ancestor.
Although Lucy’s species remains the privileged ancestor due to its closest foot to human, the discovery of a Australopithecus more primitive and contemporary “opens the possibility of finding other species dating from this period, as it seems that australopithecines experimented with being bipedal”, concluded Yohannes Haile-Selassie.
