Afarensis is a 3.5-2.8 million year old hominin from the Kada Hadar member of the Hadar formation in the Middle Awash, Ethiopia. He is approximately 41 inches tall, weighs approximately 60 pounds and has a cranial capacity of a whopping 410 cc (approximately). Afarensis is currently considered to be transitional between apes and humans and displays some traits of both. Since he spends a lot of time on the couch watching monster movies, some observers question whether he is an obligate biped (although no one has observed him climbing a tree). He also has a blog called 
I'm sure everyone remembers Oetzi, the mummuy found in alpine ice in 1991. A while back it came to light that Oetzi died as a result of wounds suffered during some kind of fight.
According to BBC News he may have been infertile as well:
Dr Franco Rollo, from the University of Camerino, and colleagues examined stretches of DNA taken from cells in the iceman's intestines.In particular, they looked at the genetic material contained in mitochondria, tiny structures that provide power to cells. This type of DNA is passed only down the maternal line.
The team says it found areas that are linked to an increased chance of male infertility.
"We screened sites [of the DNA] which have been described by other scientists as being linked to other pathologies or environmental adaptations," Dr Rollo said.
"A couple of these sites have been described as being linked to reduced sperm mobility and we found both on Oetzi's mitochondrial DNA," he told the BBC New website.
"We cannot say for certain that he was suffering from this [reduced sperm mobility], but there is a chance."
The rest of the BBC article tries to put the possible infertility of Oetzi into some kind of social context (and is very speculative). The article also discusses some of the other findings of the mtDNA research. The research will be published in the AJPA.
Comments
Dude's probably got some major shrinkage, as well. That can't help either.
Posted by: RPM![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://scienceblogs.com/afarensis/nav-commenters.gif)
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February 3, 2006 1:29 PM
Yeah, all thos years frozen in ice are sure to cause shrinkage.
Posted by: afarensis | February 3, 2006 2:11 PM
Maybe he got into that (fatal) fight over someone making fun of his condition.
Posted by: Jeebus | February 6, 2006 11:31 AM
how did the ice man die and how did he end up in the alp's
Posted by: stephanie | January 17, 2008 5:45 PM
lvs the pics why is his arm all crippled
Posted by: kia | May 20, 2008 8:53 AM
It is due to burial and postburial processes.
Posted by: afarensis, FCD | May 20, 2008 12:59 PM