Life Size Printout > “Lucy”, Adult Australopithecus Afarensis

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Life Size Printout > “Lucy”, Adult Australopithecus afarensis Understanding the human skeleton is important for learning about human anatomy and human evolution. Some of the defining characteristics for modern humans include our height and our skeletal adaptations for bipedalism. Some of these adaptations can be seen in earlier fossil hominins, which suggests they may be our early ancestors. Lucy, also known as AL288-1, is an adult female of the species Australopithecus afarensis. She is important to the understanding of human evolution because she is 3.2 million years old and shows many features that look very human and retains others that look very ape-like. She shows adaptations for both bipedalism (i.e., walking on the ground on two legs) and arboreality (i.e., living in trees). This printout will help you learn about the skeleton and identify some of the important features of Lucy’s skeletal anatomy. This document contains an outline of Lucy’s reconstructed skeleton, standing at 107 cm tall (3’6” tall) - her actual height. To compare, modern humans average a height of 107 cm between 5 and 6 years of age. The average height for a modern human adult female is 162 centimeters (or 5’3”) tall. An adult male today usually stands about 175 centimeters (5’7”) tall. Instructions for Printing Life Size Printout: 1. Print pages 3 through 10 of this document on standard 8 ½” x 11” pages (portrait). • Note: using a higher printing resolution will improve the quality of the images. 2. Trim the pages along the black lines provided. 3. Assemble the full picture (as illustrated to the left) on the floor or by taping on the wall, chalkboard, etc. 4. Try to identify the different bones. Remember, most of the bones in the body are paired. This means the same bone will be found on each side of the body. 5. Compare the height of Lucy’s skeleton on the printout with the printout of a modern human juvenile and your own height. Think about the differences between the skeletons. 6. Have fun and learn! ©eFOSSILS 2007 www.eFossils.org and www.eLucy.org Outline drawn by R.A. Menegaz .

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'Lucy' Fossil Found
Published online 20 September 2006 | Nature | doi:10.1038/news060918-5 News Little 'Lucy' fossil found Toddler hominin has arms for swinging and legs for walking. Rex Dalton The 3.3-million-year-old bones of a female toddler from Ethiopia are telling scientists a story about the route human ancestors took from the trees to the ground. In today's issue of Nature, an Ethiopian-led international team reports the discovery of a juvenile skeleton of the species commonly known as 'Lucy', or Australopithecus afarensis.1,2 The researchers have named her Selam, after an Ethiopian word for 'peace'. The specimen, which is the oldest and most complete juvenile of a human relative ever found, has features that stand as striking examples of part-way evolution between primitive apes and modern humans. Although many other samples of A. afarensis have been found before, this is the first one reported to come complete with a whole shoulder-blade bone (scapula). In modern humans the scapula has a ridge running horizontally across the top of the bone; in apes the scapula's ridge reaches further down the Little Salem is the most back, where it can help to throw more muscle into arm action, as would be needed to swing from trees. ancient toddler ever found. In the young A. afarensis, the scapula looks to be part-way between. Zeresenay Alemseged and Copyright Authority for Research and Conservation "The animal was losing its capacity to be arboreal — heading right toward being human," says of Cultrual Heritages anthropologist Owen Lovejoy of Kent State University in Ohio.
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