When we stop to think about human evolution, the first thing that usually comes to mind is the theory that primates are ours. ancestors, and that from these, the species was adapting and arrived at the configuration of the standard of the universal human body that is known at the moment.
From this principle, it is known some species of ancestral apes of man. This is the case with Australopithecus. Do you know this primate?
What is Australopithecus?
Being similar to chimpanzees and very close to the genus Homo, the australopithecus form a genus of several hominids (taxonomic family of great primates) extinct.
It is a hominid that lived about 1.9 million years ago, with some characteristics of a chimpanzee, in which it swayed in trees, could make tools and walk upright. Therefore, some say that this primate has the potential to be the ancestor that led to the appearance of the genus “Homo”.
Two fossilized partial skeletons of australopithecus have been found. They were discovered in 2008 in Malapa, South Africa, by Lee Berger, a professor at the University of Witwatersrand, from Johannesburg, in the same country, but with a small amount of materials, which makes the work of the paleotropologists.
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A team of 80 international scientists gathered to carry out the detailed analysis on five articles in Science, in which it offers new clues about how the transition from ape to human might have occurred, but it also raises many questions about the evolution of the species. human.
Despite the analyses, scientists are not sure whether the genus Homo, which includes contemporary humans, has evolved. directly from the australopithecus or if the esse was one of the so-called “dead end” species and the species of the genus Homo evolved separately.
Characteristics of Australopithecus
Differentiating themselves from chimpanzees, these animals were practically biped, since it was not common for them to walk on four legs. The brains are about 1/3 the size of that of a modern human, and a skull not significantly larger than that of a modern-day chimpanzee.
They were small, up to 1.2 m tall.
In addition, Australopithecus has simian facial features (flat nose, strongly projected chewing apparatus – prognathism). Their long arms and curved fingers indicate ease for climbing trees. This species had to adapt to various conditions, which allowed this hominin to survive for almost a million years facing the most adverse climatic conditions, as well as environmental changes.
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