The first human-like traits to appear in the hominin fossil record are bipedal walking and smaller, blunt canines.

Now the challenge -- one of the ultimate questions in the study of human origins -- is to understand why the earliest hominids stood up. "Bipedalism is a fundamental human characteristic," said Dr.

New research shows Australopithecus, an early human ancestor, likely consumed little to no meat, challenging previous ...

When a big toe is opposable, you can still function properly as a biped." The scientists involved say that this work shows that early hominin feet had a mixed and versatile set of functions.

A study in Science analyzed nitrogen isotope ratios in fossilized tooth enamel from seven Australopithecus individuals (3.7–3 ...

"Lucy," our 3.2 million-year-old hominin relative ... But our earlier relatives, the australopithecines, were also bipedal around 4 million years ago. Given the long arms and different body ...

Lucy showed that human ancestors were up and walking around long before the earliest stone tools were made or brains got bigger, and subsequent fossil finds of much earlier bipedal hominids have ...

Kimolo Mulwa at the site of the first hominin footprint discovery in 1978 ... though it could have been dangerous for bipedal primates 4 or 5 feet (1.2 to 1.5 meters) tall. Even today, people ...

It is, they said, a “fossil first” that offers proof different hominin species lived at the ... and both species were bipedal, agile, and had upright postures. Feibel noted that the footprints ...

provided unprecedented insights into early hominin anatomy. A singular discovery When Lucy was discovered, she was “singular,” Sponheimer says. But subsequent research has uncovered hundreds of ...