Science. The famous förmänniskan Lucy spent at least a third of his time among the trees, new research shows.
Our 3.2 million-year-old anmoder, whose fossilized skeleton was found in Ethiopia in 1974, took probably forward as much as a chimpanzee, a modern human, according to the american researchers who publish their findings in PLOS One.
By scanning the Lucy skeleton with a sharp machine, that can get through the minerallager which covers her remains, the researchers were 35 000 high-resolution images. By analyzing her left femur and her two arms, researchers have discovered that the arms were well-built and strong – similar to those of arboreal chimpanzees.
– It is a well-established fact that the skeleton responds to loading during life, and built up to withstand the high load and are broken down when the load decreases, ” says John Kappelman, a professor at the University of Texas and one of the lead authors of the study.
at the same time was Lucy’s legs are relatively weak, and not well adapted to climb or walk. The combination of these discoveries means that the researchers believe that Lucy probably slept in trees to avoid predators and used his arms to get between the trees.
the FACTS
Lucy belonged to the species Australopithecus afarensis, which lived for 3,85 to 2,95 million years ago, in the current Ethiopia, Kenya and Tanzania. The species survived, therefore, of the approximately 900 000 years, which is more than four times as long as our own species has existed.
Its predecessor was likely Australopithecus anamensis that lived in Africa 4.2 to 3.9 million years ago.
Possibly is A. afarensis our own arts direct anmoder in a direct line. Primitive species of our own genus, Homo, appear in Africa shortly after that A. afarensis had died out.
Source: The Smithsonian Institution
TT-AFP
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