Oldest human skeleton offers new clues to evolution

The oldest known hominid skeleton, Ardi,was a four foot tall female who walked upright more than 4 million years ago. She offered new clues to how humans may have evolved. Scientists believe that the fossils remains that were discovered in Ethiopia in 1994 supports belief that humans and chimpanzees evolved separately from a common ancestor. Ardi's 125-piece skeleton included the skull, teeth, pelvis, hands and feet bones. C. Owne Love Joy, an evolutionary biologist stated "In fact, what Ardipithecus tells us that we as humans have been evolving to what we are today for at least 6 million years."

Ardi's skeleton reveals she weighed about 110 pounds,had very long arms and fingers, and possessed an opposable big toe that would have helped her grasp branches while moving through trees. Her brain was believed to be the size of a chimp's but she also had many human-like features such as the ability to walk upright on two legs. Her " all -purpose type" teeth indicated that she probably ate a combination of plants, fruits and small mammals, according to scientist. Ardi's finding help challenge earlier beliefs that humans evolved from chimpanzees, their closet genetic relatives.Until now, Australopithecus,nicknamed "Lucy" was the oldest fossil studied by scientists seeking to explain evolution. Lucy is believed to have lived about 3.2 years ago.

I found this article so interesting because in class our previous lesson was about animal evolution. I think its cool that there was once a creature that had human-like features. That explains alot about us humans e.g our opposable thumbs. I would love to visit the museum that has Ardi's skeleton there and learn more about her.

Shanice Hines