Australopithecus Afarensis Essay

Australopithecus Afarensis Species and Their Existence
Humans are a species of hominidae. A hominid is any one of a family, hominidae, of mammals that includes humans with their extinct ancestral forms. Hominids evolved from each other. Humans have evolved over the millions of years from the first hominid. One of the hominid species that humans have evolved from is the Australopithecus Afarensis. A classification of an Australopithecus Afarensis is a Southern Ape. This species is a vertebra and a primate. The Australopithecus Afarensis have similar characteristics with humans, homosapeaons, while having their own ape like characteristics and way of life. This species was discovered in 1974 and was formally named in 1978 after a wave of fossil discoveries were found. These fossils did not match any known fossils or families, so the species was given the name Australopithecus Afarensis from the location they were found. One of the famous fossils found in this wave was named “Lucy”. The average height for males of this …show more content…
The bones of the Australopithecus Afarensis is one like humans have not seen yet. Evidence shows that they walked upright on two feet, but researchers are still not certain on how the species walked. Their footprints, shape of the pelvis, the curve of their spine, and the anatomy of their knee indicate that the species walked on two legs. This is one similarity of the Australopithecus Afarensis to humans, along with their body shape, use of thumbs, and the shape of their face. There are also some differences between humans and the Australopithecus Afarensis. Their stride as they walk is much different to that of a humans because of their short legs, long arms, curved fingers and toe bones, and the structure of their hip. Australopithecus Afarensis have large canine like teeth. The Australopithecus Afarensis pelvis bone is much more humanlike than