Apes to humans: Lucy and Selam's species climbed trees
Thursday, October 25, 2012 - 15:30
in Paleontology & Archaeology
Australopithecus afarensis was an upright walking species, but the question of whether it also spent much of its time in trees has been the subject of much debate. For the first time, scientists have thoroughly examined the two complete shoulder blades of the fossil "Selam." Analyses of these rare bones showed them to be quite apelike, suggesting that this species was adapted to climbing trees in addition to walking bipedally when on the ground.