Ape-like child may give clues on missing link
An ancient skeleton of an ape-like child may provide information on the missing link between humans and their ape ancestors.
A partial skeleton, including the skull, of the early hominid child was found in the Afar region of Ethiopia.
It may complete the picture of evolution, filling in the gaps between three- and four million-year-old skeletons previously discovered.
Ethiopian palaeoanthropologist Dr Zeresenay Alemseged, who found the remains, said: "This is probably the earliest well preserved young hominid so far known".
The hominid species first appeared 4.5 million years ago and provides a number of candidates which may be the direct ancestor to modern man.
Both the latest discovery and the three million-year-old adult named Lucy are are of the australopithecus afaransis species which lived in the Rift Valley of north east Africa four million to 2.7 million years ago.
Lucy proves the species has many human characteristics despite being an ape. Her leg and pelvis bones resemble those of modern man indicating that she walked upright, meaning that the upright posture preceded the development of human beings and human intelligence.
Like Lucy, the new find suggests that the child had an ape-like face
