The oldest known hominids are the Australopithecus found in Africa, where their fossil record extends from ca. 4 to approximately 1 million years ago. Four Australopithecus species are recognized in the literature: A. afarensis, A. africanus, A....

†A. afarensis ("Lucy") †A. africanus †A. anamensis †A. bahrelghazali †A. garhi Formerly Australopithecus, now Paranthropus †P. aethiopicus †P. robustus †P....

Fieldwork at an Ethiopian site in 1992 and 1993 has yielded the remains of the oldest members of the human evolutionary family yet discovered. These chimpanzeelike creatures, who lived 4.4 million years ago, apparently served as a common ancestral stock for all later...

For more than 15 years, the way in which Lucy and other members of Australopithecus afarensis, the earliest known species in the human evolutionary family, moved about has sparked considerable debate. One side argues that these hominids, which lived from about 4...

A fossil tour doesn't have to mean an aging rock band's reunion concerts. The State Department gave final approval Wednesday for one of the world's most famous fossils _ the 3.2 million-year-old Lucy skeleton unearthed in Ethiopia in 1974 _ to tour the U.S. on...

With all that growing weight up front, how is it that pregnant women don't lose their balance and topple over? Scientists think they've found the answer: There's are slight differences between women and men in one lower back vertebrae and a joint in the hip,...

The evidence on the origins of the hominid lineage has helped us to further understand where and when hominids came into existence. Fossil evidence shows morphological changes associated with bipedality allowing fitness advantage in new environments. Other behaviors have been shown through these fossils as well as the information we have today about nonhuman primates.