The question of whether the Tou-million-year-old primate, nicknamed ‘Toumai’, walked on two-four legs has sparked drama among paleontologists – with a perishable woman.
Since the discovery of Sahalenthropus tecdensis The first relic, dating back to 2001, has always been cited as our ancient known hominin ancestor. Preliminary analysis suggests that Sahelnthropus Walked upright on a regular basis and had a combination of ape-like and human-like characteristics.
These conclusions, however, were based on a single skull.
The skull has anatomical features that presumably indicate that this was the spine of the primate, and therefore some of its time was spent walking on only two legs. Even its small teeth look more humane like an ape. These findings were supported by subsequent reconstruction.
But other researchers have argued that this is not enough evidence for the class alone Sahelnthropus As a hominin dvipit – the direct ancestor of human beings – than relative, but not a direct hereditary hominid.
At the same time and at the same place where the skull was found, in the Toros-Menalla of Chad, a part of the left side was also found. After another researcher began investigating her in 2004, she became obsessed with what might have happened to her.
Ude de Bergaret-Medina and her supervisor, paleontologist Roberto Much Chiarelli of the University of Poitiers in France, eventually continued their analysis based on measurements and photos. They have recently published their findings, which are in doubt Sahelnthropus Put our family tree.
“Based on our analysis, the partial femur lacks any features compatible with regular bouts of terrestrial bilateral travel,” Mac Chiarelli and team wrote in their paper.
“Thus, if there is compelling evidence that S. tchadensis Once a stem is hominin, then bipartisanship can no longer be seen as a requirement to be included in the hominin cleat. “
Another paper is still awaiting peer review from the original authors Sahelnthropus Studies dispute this, claiming that the femur has a hard top that supports a straight trend.
Meanwhile, another paleontologist at the French National Museum of Natural History, Martin Pickford, wonders if the femur is also Toumaini or at least another. Sahelnthropus.
Still others agree with Mac Chiarelli’s assessment of femur.
“I saw the pictures 10 or 12 years ago, and it was clear to me that they were more like a chimpanzee than any other hominin,” said Madeleine Behm, a paleontologist at the University of Tübingen, who was not involved in any of the studies. New Scientist.
Analysis of molecular differences in our DNA suggests that humans partnered with chimpanzees and bonobos (our closest still living relatives) about 8-million years ago. There is only other fossil evidence of a possible hominin of that time Ororin Tugenesis.
Much Chiarelli and the team compared Femmer to one O. Tugenesis And determined that there is at least a species-level difference between them.
fter also compare with them Austral Strel op Pythius, Gorillas and modern humans, they believe that this difference suggests that the two ancient races also had different methods of genocide.
They have doubts Sahelnthropus There may be a ancestral relationship without any remaining descendants – an extinct lineage.
They also pointed out that others have suggested that the small teeth found in the original study may indicate that only the primate is female. But the team agrees that there are still interesting questions left, especially around the lines that we use to determine what that means, exactly what makes Primate, citing the 2017 paper in their conclusion:
“Exactly where and under what circumstances in Africa, the ape-human demarcation began, and when and why the ape-human boundary stabilized are important research challenges that remain unresolved.”
We will need many more relics before we know the answers.
This research was published in Journal of Human Evolution.
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