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Foot fossil of ancient pre-human species recently discovered, is expected to reveal how our ancestors could walk upright. The ancient bones have a big thumb in the opposite direction like a gorilla's.
Humans can dominate the planet because it walked upright to free their hands to use tools. One of the earliest human ancestor to walk upright is Lucy, who comes from the species Australopithecus afarensis. Hominins, which is the strongest candidate the direct ancestor of modern humans, living on 2.9 million to 3.8 million years ago in eastern Africa.
Although Lucy and members of the bipedal species, some experts question how dependent they are on life in the trees. Now, researchers discovered another fossil hominin species that coexist with A. afarensis at the same time and place. Based on the leg bones were found, a new human family are tree dwellers.
"In biology, if there are two closely related species living side by side, they may begin to separate themselves in the niches they occupy," said Bruce Latimer, a paleoanthropologist at Case Western Reserve University.
Because it has a new hominin foot that is perfect for climbing, finally A. afarensis which has been adapted to walking upright choose to live in the ground and walked away.
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3.4 million years old foot bone fossils found
in Burtele, East Africa. (Picture from:
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Leg bones 3.4 million years old found in Burtele, Woranso-Mille region in Afar, Ethiopia, it also shows there is more than one pre-human species that lived in the same area and move different ways. Recent analyzes of foot bones were found in February 2009 will be published in the journal Nature.
"The fossil foot Burtele clearly demonstrated for 3.4 million years ago, Lucy walked upright on two legs, is not the only species of hominin that lived in Ethiopia," said lead study, Yohannes Haile-Selassie.
The man who became curator of physical anthropology at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History, United States, said Lucy was living with close relatives are more adept at climbing trees. "Similar Ardi, Ardipithecus ramidus fossil specimens that lived 4.4 million years ago," he said.
It is the first fossil evidence to demonstrate the existence of at least two pre-human species that has a different way of moving. La-timer said there is a difference between the fossils and the fossil Lucy Burtele feet. Fossils of the big toe on the Lucy species arranged in harmony with the four other toes to walk upright like modern humans, while the foot has a thumb Burtele that is located opposite the other fingers as seen in the fossil Ardi.
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| Comparison of the fourth metatarsal bone specimens Burtele by human hands. (Picture from: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/) |
"This discovery is quite surprising. These elements represent the composition of fossil bones that we've never seen before," said Latimer.
He said the composition of fossil Burtele toe grip that allows the owner to climb. The thumb can also be freely moved from side to side. But fossils do not indicate a progression in the joints that allow movement needed to push the body off the ground and then walked upright. "These individuals tend to have somewhat awkward gait while on the ground," he said.
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| Picture shows the position of the fourth metatarsal from Australopithecus afarensis. Such hominin fossils are rare, since they are fragile and are often destroyed in the face of carnivores and decay. (Picture from: http://www.mnn.com/) |
So far scientists have not classify it into a specimen of certain species due to lack of information about the elements of the fossil skulls and teeth. (Jump to related article.) *** [SCIENCEDAILY |NATURE | MAHARDIKA SATRIA HADI | KORAN TEMPO 3837]
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