Biology Reference
In-Depth Information
their unique suite of features. The more complete of the two speci-
mens, MH1, includes a cranium and is from a juvenile male estimated
to be 11 to 13 years old. MH2 represents a less complete adult female.
These small skeletons have the basic australopithecine pattern of rela-
tively long arms, upward-turned shoulder sockets, and bodies built for
bipedalism. Berger believes
Australopithecus sediba
was descended from
Australopithecus africanus
and that it was a late survivor of the species
that gave rise to early
Homo.
Although Berger's fossils received high
praise from colleagues, many are skeptical about the suggestion that
theless, Berger's hypothesis must be given serious consideration, be-
cause the two partial skeletons reveal a number of advanced features
that appear more similar to early
Homo
than to earlier australopith-
ecines, including a shortened lower pelvis, smaller teeth, longer legs,
and a thinner lower jaw.
There is another partial but very fragmentary skeleton from Olduvai
Gorge (numbered OH 62) that seems to have shared the same short
stature, apelike limb proportions, and inferred movement patterns as
nicknamed Lucy's Child. However, with a date of 1.8 million years ago,
OH 62 lived almost 1.5 million years more recently than its “mother.”
Although the little skeleton was initially placed in
Homo habilis
rather
The hominins represented by these seven more or less complete skel-
etons lived in Africa between 3.6 million and 1.8 million years ago. Other
more fragmentary remains of
Australopithecus
stretch back to around
species varied depending on their particular dietary adaptations, these
treasured skeletons show that little hominins with nonhuman (and in
some cases apelike) body proportions enjoyed a long and successful
existence across a large portion of Africa. It is fascinating that these
petite “man-apes” (as Dart called them) had both legs and feet that were
