Our famous old ancestor Lucy, the Australopithecus afarensis specimen whose skeleton was discovered in 1974, spent much of her time climbing trees , as a study published in the journal PLOS ONE has just revealed. This was a matter of debate among paleontologists, but new analyzes carried out on the bone fragments of this hominid, which died 3.2 million years ago, indicate that it had very robust arms , specifically adapted to grip branches.
At Johns Hopkins and Texas Universities in Austin, scientists have come to this conclusion after thoroughly examining Lucy’s bones using CT images . Its excellent state of conservation has made it possible to compare the anatomical characteristics of the upper limbs, similar to those of chimpanzees, and the lower ones, which allowed members of this extinct species to adopt the bipedal posture, like us.
This would support the hypothesis that Australopithecus afarensis made nests high up to protect themselves from predators; in fact, other recent research indicates that Lucy likely died as a result of falling from a tree.
Actually, the 3D images of Lucy’s skeleton were taken in 2008 , when the famous australopithecine spent an eleven-day stay at the University of Texas at Austin – her usual place of residence is the National Museum of Ethiopia – and two researchers, John Kappelman and Richard Ketchman, took the opportunity to create an archive with 35,000 scanned shots of their remains against the clock . Using this material, paleontologists, led by Johns Hopkins University professor Christopher Ruff, have thoroughly examined the internal structure of the right and left humerus of his arms and the left femur of his leg.
Aside from revealing her ability to climb trees, the new work also suggests that Lucy walked more clumsily than modern humans and was right-handed .
