Australopithecus sediba was a transitional form of ancient human relative, a study has concluded.
Australopithecus sediba was a transitional form of ancient human relative, a study has concluded.
(CNN)An ancient human relative was able to walk the ground on two legs and use their upper limbs to climb and swing like apes, according to a new study of 2 million-year-old vertebrae fossils.
An international team of scientists from New York University, the University of the Witwatersrand and 15 other institutions studied lower back bones found in 2015 that belonged to a female Australopithecus sediba, a type of ancient hominid.
Together with previously discovered bones from the same individual — nicknamed “Issa,” which is Swahili for protector — the fossilized remains form one of the most complete lower backs ever discovered in the early hominid record and give an indication as to how this human relative would have moved through the world.
The researchers said the newly studied lower back fossils were a missing link that proved early hominins used their upper limbs to climb like apes, and their lower limbs to walk like humans.
Australopithecus sediba were able to use their upper limbs to climb and swing like apes.
Australopithecus sediba were able to use their upper limbs to climb and swing like apes.
The fossils were first discovered in 2015 during excavations of a mining trackway running next to the site of Malapa in the Cradle of Humankind World Heritage Site, near Johannesburg.
