by A hipbone Paranthropus Robustus, A kind of hominin that was thought to have lived alongside our direct ancestors has revealed that they also walked upright. In addition to confirming their parable with us, the discovery also reveals how small Parantropus Was and how vulnerable it would have come to the terrifying predators of his environment, and also complicates the story we have told about their sex life.
The kind Paranthropus Robustus was mentioned in 1938, based on South African fossils. Although specimens have been found from six caves, they all got stuck firmly in the cradle of humanity in the neighborhood of Johannesburg. Moreover, their fossil record is dominated by skulls, teeth and jaws – tell us a lot about their brain capacity, but covered their attitude and lifestyle.
That is why the hip, thigh and shinbone were found in Swartkrans Cave – first place P. Robustus And Homo Fossils were found together – are so important. They look like smaller versions of our own counterparts, and prove that this was a kind that ran upright, instead of a monkey -like attitude that is suitable for life in trees.
Like most topics in paleoantropology, the status of Parantropus Has been discussed for a long time, with some arguing that they belong in the Australopithecines, instead of earning their own gender. Given the proof that Lucy, the most famous Australopithecine, was something of a tree dweller, their upright status reinforces the independent status of P. Robustus.
The fossil is from a small individual, only 103 centimeters (3.4 feet) high and weighs 27 kilograms (60 pounds). There is always a danger with fossils to confuse a child’s bone with an adult and the sizes to get wrong, but the authors of a paper about the bone think that this came from an adult, albeit a young one.
“It was estimated that this person, probably a woman, was only about a meter long and 27 kg when it died,” said Professor Travis Pickering of the University of Wisconsin-Madison in a statement. That means it was; “Even smaller than adults from other shrinking early human species, including those represented by the famous ‘Lucy’ (((Australopithecus AfarensisAbout 3.2 million years old) and ‘Hobbit’ (Homo Floresiensis, about 90,000 years old) skeletons. ” P. BoiseiThe other member of his gender was considerably larger.
The area around Swartkrans -cave is currently inhabited by gigantic hyenas and Sabertooth cats, and the bones show markings that could have come from modern leopards. A creature that would be so small would have been almost precisely the desired prey weight of a leopard and poorly equipped to combat such threats, even with stone tools.
Leopard Lower Jawbone next to a skull fragment of a juvenile Paranthropus Robustus. Note the puncture markings that exactly match the dental separation.
Image Credit: Jason L. Heaton
But somehow, P. Robustus was a survivor. “Although it seems that this special Paranthropus Robustus Individual was the unfortunate victim of predation, who does not mean that the whole kind of incompetent was, “said Pickering. “We know that Paranthropus Robustus survived in South Africa for more than a million years. The hip and leg bones are of a layer between 2.3 and 1.7 million years old, the earlier part of P. Robustus‘Long presence.
P. Robustus Fossils are always found around stone tools, but there is still a discussion whether they were the makers or if there is credit Homo ErgasterOur direct ancestor who lived in the area at the same time. Walking up does not prove P. Robutus Were tool makers, but an important reason to stop traveling on hands and feet is to let free hands to wear.
.png "The parantropus robustus hipbot that shows where a leopard apparently chewed on the edge and a reconstruction of the missing parts.")
The parantropus robustus hipbot that shows where a leopard apparently chewed on the edge and a reconstruction of the missing parts.
Image Credit: Jason L. Heaton
The P. Robustus Skulls and teeth come in two different sizes. Although the genus of individual skulls cannot be determined with certainty, the favorite explanation is that men were much greater than women. When this kind of sexual dimorphism is seen in animals – for example gorillas – it is usually associated with a dominant male couples with several women, while other men are excluded unless they can overthrow the king.
However, this fossil makes things difficult, because the estimated weight decreases neatly between the estimates. Based on skulls. From 32 kilograms (70 pounds) for men and 24 kilograms (53 pounds) for women. Other characteristics also do not help, with some aspects of the shape of the bones that are usually associated with male people, while people are much more feminine in modern people. However, some of these sex indicators have been shown that they do not apply to fossils from Australopith.
The study was published in the Journal of Human Evolution
