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Australopithecus

Australopithecus was a prehistoric hominid that lived 4 to 3.5 million years ago. There are many species. Humans are thought to have evolved from the Australopithecus species A. afarensis.

Description[]

Australopithecus tended to be diminutive and gracile, most specimens measuring 1.2 to 1.4 metres high. They shared several traits with modern apes and humans, but their brains were roughly 35% the size of a modern human's brain.[1] Australopithecus also showed sexual dimorphism, with males being up to 50% larger than females, where as in humans, males are, on average, 15% larger than females.

Popular Culture[]

A group of Australopithecus appear in Episode 23 of Primeval, where Helen Cutter tries to poison them at Site 333.

References[]

  1. Beck, Roger B.; Linda Black, Larry S. Krieger, Phillip C. Naylor, Dahia Ibo Shabaka, (1999). World History: Patterns of Interaction. Evans ton, IL: McDougal Littell. ISBN 0-395-87274-X.
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