The earliest species of the australopithecines is Australopithecus anamensis who lived around 4.2 mya to 3.9 mya. This species was first discovered in 1965 by a research team led by a man named Bryan Patterson though the find at the time had only a singular bone from the arm. More and more bits and pieces of this species fossils were found over time though the most notable were in 1994 where teeth and bone fragments were found and in 2019 a nearly complete cranium had been discovered. This species had many ape-like and human-like features just as the others in this genus; "long forearms and features of the wrist indicate climbing adaptations, but it also shows tibial and ankle features that clearly relate to bipedalism." (Odiga, 355) Having longer forearms must have made this species and most if not all in this genus look quite a bit odd as compared to modern humans but it is cool that they had the abilities for both tree life and ground life.
YOU ARE READING
The Australopithecines
Non-FictionAn essay I wrote on the genus Australopithecus for my biological anthropology lab. Each chapter is a paragraph.
