I want to thank Brian R. for sending this to me. Brian writes “I think the Sasquatch is a larger version of these guys with some other things missed in along the way, as seems to happen in hominids and hominids alike. I strongly suspect the different types represent various hybridization events, possibly regionally and are now stabilized populations with some crossover. They are not really separate species, but maybe more like interrelated tribes (I don’t mean that in any anthropomorphic sense, but in an anthropological sense) of similar, but slightly different origins from the same base stock. It is that base stock I suspect derive from the ancient Australopithicines. This seems to be the case to some extent in humans with H. sapiens being the base stock and other species and archaic forms integrated into he H, sapiens base forming H, sapiens sapiens.
Many of these are now known as Paranthropus, rather than the older term ‘Australopithicus’. Don’t let the obscure name-changing tendencies of science throw you!”
Australopithecus africanus
Australopithecus africanus
Au. africanus was anatomically similar to Au. afarensis, with a combination of human-like and ape-like features. Compared to Au. afarensis, Au. africanus had a rounder cranium housing a larger brain and smaller teeth, but it also had some ape-like features including relatively long arms and a strongly sloping face that juts out from underneath the braincase with a pronounced jaw. Like Au. afarensis, the pelvis, femur (upper leg), and foot bones of Au. africanus indicate that it walked bipedally, but its shoulder and hand bones indicate they were also adapted for climbing,
Where Lived: Southern Africa (South Africa)
When Lived: About 3.3 to 2.1 million years ago
Year of Discovery: 1924
History of Discovery:
The Taung child, found in 1924, was the first to establish that early fossil humans occurred in Africa. After Prof. Raymond Dart described it and named the species Australopithecus africanus (meaning southern ape of Africa), it took more than 20 years for the scientific community to widely accept Australopithecus as a member of the human family tree.
Height: Males: average 4 ft 6 in (138 cm); Females: average 3 ft 9 in (115 cm)
Weight: Males: average 90 lbs (41 kg); Females: average 66 lb (30 kg)
We don’t know everything about our early ancestors—but we keep learning more! Paleoanthropologists are constantly in the field, excavating new areas, using groundbreaking technology, and continually filling in some of the gaps about our understanding of human evolution.