The Australopithecines

Australopithecus garhi

        This next species is somewhat the odd one out in the genus Australopithecus. Australopithecus garhi had large teeth which were unlike the others before them, and their femur was longer than the others resulting in human-like proportions of arm to leg ratio. The remains discovered in 1999 are dated to be from around 2.5 mya but with so little found it is debated as to whether or not this species should be classified as it is as an Australopithecus. The "remains from this species include only one cranium and a few other skull fragments, and another partial skeleton." (Odiga, 356) This species is the first before Homo to be associated with the use of stone tools which was a major technology thought to only be possessed by more human-like species. It must have been an amazing discovery that had to have caused much debate as there likely were people who would refuse to believe that such an early ancestor would not have had a large enough brain to use stone tools. There are many that like to believe even when there are facts that early Homo and so on are far superior and could have been the only species to do certain things due to a larger relative brain size as compared to those of earlier species. Just because something has a smaller brain though does not mean that it cannot be smart. This is shown very often in dogs, many people train their dogs to communicate using buttons that when pressed speak a word. The dog knows what button is what word and although they cannot hold a conversation (yet) they can do things such as ask for help and other simple questions such as if they can have a treat.