Move over Bigfoot!
There’s a new ‘foot’ in town!
His name may be Little Foot, but the questions surrounding this skeleton are anything but
little!
Hey everyone - Natalia here, guest hosting for DNews.
Understanding human origins has been a preoccupation with humans since...well, since we originated.
And since the discovery 41 years ago in East Africa of a 3.2 million year old female hominin
named Lucy, AKA Australopithecus afarensis, paleoanthropologists have discovered several
new hominin species.
A hominin is one of our upright walking ancestors.
One such possible new species includes specimen StW 573, or Little Foot.
Little Foot was first discovered in the early 1990s in concrete-like material called breccia
in South Africa’s Sterkfontein Caves.
Sterkfontein has also yielded the remains of Australopithecus africanus, a species of
hominin that lived 2-3 million years ago.
Therefore, there was question whether Little Foot is simply another A. africanus individual
or perhaps a new species altogether!
Researchers have spent over 20- yes 20- years excavating Little Foot!
During this time they tried to determine his age and species.
Fortunately, his head is well preserved and exhibits traits that differ from A. africanus,
such as larger cheek teeth, a longer, flatter face, and slight sagittal crest, or a bony
ridge along the top of the head.
And, as you may have guessed...little feet.
Scientists also have worked hard to determine the age of Little Foot and even employed a
new technique to estimate how long ago Little Foot’s little feet walked the earth.
According to researchers Little Foot died 3.7 million years ago making him a lot older
than all other A. africanus individuals AND a contemporary of Lucy’s species A. afarensis,
which lived from 3.9 to 2.9 million years ago.
Hence Little Foot has been dubbed a new species, Australopithecus prometheus!
According to researchers this development would imply that there could have been a link
between Australopithecines in East and South Africa which is incredibly exciting!
However, despite researcher assertions that Little Foot is a new species that lived 3.7
million years ago, there are those that disagree.
Hey, it’s not science unless there’s a debate!
There are scientists that argue Little Foot is younger than 3.7 million years old.
And there is question if A. prometheus is a new species or he is just another A. africanus
individual that falls within the range of variability within that species.
When it comes to human evolution there are two camps; lumpers and splitters.
Lumpers are conservative about dividing species into multiple taxa.
Whereas splitters are liberal with their degree of speciation.
For example, since it’s discovery, Homo ergaster had been considered it’s own species
but now it’s commonly lumped in with Homo erectus rather than split the two into separate
taxa.
Or they refer to Homo ergaster as a subspecies of Homo erectus.
If you think about it, the morphology, or the anatomical structure of an organism, can
greatly vary within a species.
Look at our own species- we come in all sorts of shapes and sizes.
Or better yet-dog breeds!
It’s hard to believe a chihuahua and an English Bulldog are the same species...but
they are!
Like many paleoanthropological discoveries drawing the line between species, is complicated
since researchers rarely have multiple fully-intact, pristine skeletons to work with.
Funny enough, Little Foot’s new name is from Greek mythology.
Prometheus was the Titan who stole fire from the gods and delivered it to humankind.
Perhaps, Little Foot will live up to his new name by igniting some heated, yet inspired,
debates about the origins of humankind.
So ladies and gents, I have feeling there’s going to be more news about our pal Little
Foot.
Paleoanthropologists will surely continue discussing his age and whether or not he’s
a new species.
And this is a perfect example that science is not static; it’s constantly evolving
as new information is discovered.
So what do you think - is Little Foot a new species or not?
Let us know in the comments below and don’t forget to subscribe for more DNews every day
of the week.