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Ardipithecus 'Ardi' Ramidus: Human Ancestor Fossil Discovered

by Alyzee | October 1, 2009 at 11:25 am

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Ardipithecus ramidus ('Ardi' for short) is the name of a fossil that scientists discovered in Ethiopia and have been studying for about 15 years. Ardi was a pre-human species that lived about 4.4 million years ago in present-day Ethiopia, abcnews reports. The Ardi fossils reveal that our ancestors were about the size of a chimpanzee, and that they walked on two over 5 million years ago.

If the scientists are correct, Ardi and her kind were the ancestors of our ancestors. She was a transitional figure, almost a hybrid -- a tree creature who could carry food in her arms as she explored the woodland floor on two legs.

"It is the earliest hominid," Haile-Selassie told Reuters. "We are pushing back the hominid record by more than a million years."

The hominid family includes all creatures that are closer to humans than chimpanzees. According to molecular studies, both human and chimpanzees diverged from a common ancestor about 5.5-6.5 million years ago.The new Ardi fossil discovered suggests that the split occurred much earlier than that:

The new fossil is tantalizingly close to when that divergence might have occurred, scientists say, suggesting that the split of the two lineages may have occurred earlier than research has indicated.

The reason we know that Ardi walked on two legs is because the fossil`s toe bone, which is like that of a bipedal mammal.

Ethiopia was also the region where `Lucy` - who was thought to be the first human ancestor to walk on two legs - was found. Ardi was found about 45 miles away.

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