Researchers have recently found that Australopithecus ancestors may have used different ways of mobilization to walk around on two feet. This particular research is one of six studies to have been published last week in science that portrays the gathering of more than four years of research into the anatomy of Australopithecus sediba.
Discovered in the Malapa cave in South Africa, the two million year-old fossils are considered to be some of the most complete early human ancestral remains to have ever been discovered. This most recent study was published by Boston University assistant Professor of Anthropology, Jeremy DeSilva and Assistant Professor of Physical Therapy, Kenneth Holt. With their findings, DeSilva and Holt first hypothesized that this particular species walked like a human with a fully extended leg. They also believed that this species had an ape-like walk with an inverted foot, which produced hyperpronation of the foot and excessive rotation of the knee and hip during bipedal walking. As a result, these findings indicated to the rest of the science world that there could have possibly been different types of bipedalism throughout the human evolution.
According to Professor Jeremy DeSilva:
“As others have suggested, there were different kinematic solutions for being a bipedal hominine in the Plio-Pleistocene (The recent discovery of an Ardipithecus-like foot from 3.4 million-year-old deposits at Burtele). The mode of locomotion suggested by the Malapa skeletons indicates a compromise between an animal that is adapted for extended knee bipedalism and one that either still had an arboreal component or had re-evolved a more arboreal lifestyle from a more terrestrial ancestor.”
According to several other published works, the Australopithecus sediba were known to have a combination of unique features in the hand, upper limb, thorax, spine and foot. The foot, in particular, possessed an anatomical mosaic, which further supports the theory today that there were multiple forms of bipedal locomotion in the Plio-Pleistocene.
Filed under: Current Events, Just for Fun, Newsletter, Parents and Kids, Science Facts, Technology and Kids, What's New Tagged: | Evolution, Fossils, Science facts
What’s a Australopithecus?
Hello Blaster! The Australopithecus sediba is an ancient type of fossil, considered to be some of the most complete early human ancestral remains to have ever been discovered. Please let us know if you have any other questions or comments, and keep on learning and having fun as you play Math Blaster!