Palaeontology

Prehistoric footprints reveal co-existence of two early human relatives

By T.K. Randall
November 30, 2024

Image: Homo Erectus
Credit: Cicero Moraes / CC BY-SA 4.0 (adapted) These prehistoric footprints, which were discovered in Kenya's Turkana Basin, appear to have been left by two distinctly different species in the same location within days of one another.

One of these - Paranthropus boisei - was not a direct human ancestor but more of a cousin. Also known as 'Nutcracker Man', this early bipedal primate had big teeth, a wide face and a small brain.

The other prints, meanwhile, belonged to Homo erectus - a direct human ancestor that was a lot more like modern humans and walked exclusively upright on two legs.The discovery of footprints belonging to these two species in the same place and at the same time suggests that they would have almost certainly encountered one another.

Exactly what the relationship between them would have been, however, remains unclear.

"I would expect the two species would have been aware of each other's existence on that landscape, and they probably would have recognized each other as being 'different'," said study first author Dr Kevin Hatala of Chatham University.

"This raises lots of fascinating questions about how they would have interacted, and we don't have all of those answers yet."

Source: The Guardian

Tags: Human, Ancestor