Re: Ardip c 4.4 Ma herbivorous in woodland/grassland/swamps :-)

From: Marc Verhaegen (fa204466_at_skynet.be)
Date: 01/26/05 

Date: Wed, 26 Jan 2005 12:19:39 +0100

Originally, *real*scientists theorized that the earliest human ancestors
lived on the savannah and began walking upright to see across the open
landscape. :-D But pollen and other evidence from As Duma suggest the
diverse habitat had swamps, grass and even some woods.
http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/wireStory?id=425118

"Rich Travsky" <" traRvEsky"@hotmMOVEail.com> wrote in message
news:41F717F9.382AE913@hotmMOVEail.com...
> Marc Verhaegen wrote:
>>
>> Sigh. Travsky, my boy, it was not me who wrote the word "swamp" (see
>> below).
>
> Sigh, it was you who jumped on it as if it were true without waiting for
> the paper..
>
>> As always :-) the paper nicely confirms our view of apiths cs. as
>
> It does no such thing, my boy. Woodland/grassland. No swamps. Sorry.

>
>> herbivorous vertical climbers-waders in swamp forests, see my papers:
>> - 1992. "Did robust australopithecines partly feed on hard parts of
>> Gramineae?" Human Evolution 7:63-64.
>> - with P-F Puech 1998 "Wetland apes: hominid palaeo-environment and diet"
>> in
>> MA Raath, H Soodyall, D Barkhan, KL Kuykendall & PV Tobias eds
>> Univ.Witwatersrand J'burg:47.
>> - idem 2000 "Hominid lifestyle and diet reconsidered: paleo-environmental
>> and comparative data" Human Evolution 15:175-186.
>> - with P-F Puech & S Munro 2002 "Aquarboreal ancestors?" Trends in
>> Ecology &
>> Evolution 17:212-217.
>> Okidoki?
>>
>> Prehuman Remains Found in Ethiopia
>> Remains of Nine Prehumans From Hominid Species in Ethiopia Dated to 4.5
>> Million Years Old
>> Jan 19, 2005
>> Paleontologists working in Ethiopia have discovered the remains of at
>> least
>> nine primitive human ancestors that are up to 4.5 million years old.
>> The specimens belong to a hominid species called Ardipithicus ramidus, a
>> transitional creature with significant ape characteristics. The fossils
>> are
>> mostly teeth and jaw fragments, with some hands and feet bones, according
>> to
>> nine researchers from universities in the United States and Spain.
>> The discoveries were made over a four-year span beginning in 1999 in digs
>> at
>> the As Duma site in Ethiopia's Afar region, which has yielded many
>> important
>> fossils. The details appear in the latest issue of the journal Nature.
>> Among the specimens, the recovered canine teeth are smaller and blunt,
>> similar to those of other human ancestors. But most of its teeth,
>> including
>> molars, are like those of great apes. The size and wear of the teeth
>> suggest
>> A. ramidus ate a plant-based diet, the researchers reported.
>> Geological and radiocarbon tests show the specimens are between 4.3
>> million
>> and 4.5 million years old.
>> Scientists know little about A. ramidus. A few skeletal fragments suggest
>> it
>> was even smaller than Australopithecus afarensis, the 3.6
>> million-year-old
>> species widely known by the nearly complete "Lucy" fossil that measures
>> about four feet tall.
>> Evidence from other A. ramidus specimens shows its skull rested directly
>> atop its spinal column, rather than in front like apes. This suggests it
>> could walk upright, or had bipedal abilities.
>> Other fossils found at the As Duma site show that A. ramidus lived
>> alongside
>> monkeys, mole rats and cow-like grazing animals. But details of the
>> environment are sketchy.
>> Originally, scientists theorized that the earliest human ancestors lived
>> on
>> the savannah and began walking upright to see across the open landscape.
>> But
>> pollen and other evidence from As Duma suggest the diverse habitat had
>> swamps, grass and even some woods.
>> The first A. ramidus fossils were reported in 1994. With the nine
>> additional
>> specimens, labs now have fragments from as many as 60 individuals.
>> Copyright
>> 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
>> http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/wireStory?id=425118
>>
>> "Rich Travsky" <traRvEsky@hotmMOVEail.com> wrote in message
>> news:41EEF1F9.C7511174@hotmMOVEail.com...
>> > Marc Verhaegen wrote:
>> >>
>> >
>> > Try reading the actual paper, Marc, instead of a news account...
>> > No mention of swamps.
>> >
>> > http://www.nature.com/cgi-taf/DynaPage.taf?file=/nature/journal/v433/n7023/full/nature03177_r.html&filetype=&dynoptions=
>> >
>> > Comparative biomolecular studies suggest that the last common ancestor
>> > of humans and chimpanzees, our closest living relatives, lived during
>> > the Late Miocene-Early Pliocene1, 2. Fossil evidence of Late
>> > Miocene-Early Pliocene hominid evolution is rare and limited to a few
>> > sites in Ethiopia3-5, Kenya6 and Chad7. Here we report new Early
>> > Pliocene hominid discoveries and their palaeoenvironmental context from
>> > the fossiliferous deposits of As Duma, Gona Western Margin (GWM), Afar,
>> > Ethiopia. The hominid dental anatomy (occlusal enamel thickness,
>> > absolute
>> > and relative size of the first and second lower molar crowns, and
>> > premolar
>> > crown and radicular anatomy) indicates attribution to Ardipithecus
>> > ramidus.
>> > The combined radioisotopic and palaeomagnetic data suggest an age of
>> > between 4.51 and 4.32 million years for the hominid finds at As Duma.
>> > Diverse sources of data (sedimentology, faunal composition,
>> > ecomorphological variables and stable carbon isotopic evidence from the
>> > palaeosols and fossil tooth enamel) indicate that the Early Pliocene As
>> > Duma sediments sample a moderate rainfall woodland and
>> > woodland/grassland.
>> >
>> >
>> > Of course, you'll find some way to twist what they say...