Monday, October 4, 2010

Lucy's ancestor the oldest A. Afarensis skeleton found

A common ancestor of Lucy has been found and has been nicknamed Kadanuumuu ("big man"). Kadanuumuu is 400,000 years older than Lucy. Lucy was our common ancestor which showed walking upright was the first evolutionary step for modern humans. Having longer legs and shorter arms meant we were separating ourselves from knuckle-walkers like other great apes. This reinforces that. The big brain came later. It is believed the earth's rise in temperature and drought drove these common ancestors from the shrinking rainforest trees and walking long distances to find food. Those who had longer legs could travel further and sustain themselves to pass on their genes. This ability has lead to mankind blanketing the earth.

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