2009年にエチオピアで発掘された「ブルテレの足」の所有者が「アウストラロピテクス・デイレメダ」（デイレメダ猿人）だったことを示す研究結果が発表された。
According to research results, it was announced that the owner of the Burtele foot discovered in Ethiopia in 2009 is Australopithecus deyiremeda Deyiremeda hominin.
。
This discovery could significantly alter the human evolutionary tree.
。
Professor Yohannes Haile-Selassie, a paleoanthropologist at Arizona State University USA, and his collaborators published these results in the scientific journal Nature.
。
The foot bones discovered at the Woranso-Mille site in the Afar region of northern Ethiopia were once considered evidence of the upright bipedalism of Australopithecus afarensis, known as Lucy, but this discovery has cast doubt on that interpretation.
。
Lucy’s big toe points in the same direction as her other toes, but in Burtele’s foot, the big toe is separated from the others, making it well-suited for climbing trees.
。
For this reason, it was initially considered to be a different species from Lucy, but just the foot bones alone were not enough to definitively identify it as a new species.
。
According to recent research, Danuvius primates walked on two legs and had the ability to push off the ground using their second toe instead of their big toe.
。
Furthermore, carbon isotope analysis of the teeth fossils of Deyiremeda apes indicates that their primary diet consisted of trees.
。
These pieces of evidence indicate that, in addition to Australopithecus afarensis, the forms of bipedalism and dietary habits among early hominins were also highly diverse.
。
Mr. Fred Spoor, a lead researcher at the Natural History Museum in the UK, points out that these discoveries could bring unexpected developments to the evolutionary family tree, and that Lucys iconic status as a common ancestor of humankind may be lost.
Home
Video
JLPT Test
Dictionary
Lesson
Topic
