Afarensis: Interesting Paranthropus robustus Study

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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 Transitions:The Evolution of Life His previous blog can be found here.
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Interesting Paranthropus robustus Study

Category: Paleoanthropology
Posted on: November 30, 2007 9:30 PM, by afarensis, FCD

National Geographic mentions an interesting study, appearing in Science, that looks at group composition among Paranthropus robustus . The study looks at sexual dimorphism, dental wear patterns, and taphonomy and concludes that groups in Paranthropus robustus society were structured much like those in gorillas and orangutans. Below the fold you will find a list of links to other coverage of the story. I'm still trying to obtain a copy of the Science article and will have more to say when I have read it.

Male Ancestor Was Slow to Grow Up

How Our Ancestors Were Like Gorillas

Pre-Human Dating Scene Revealed

Pre-Human Dating Scene Was a Real Jungle

Find more posts in: Life Science

Comments

I've got a copy, I'm sending you a copy.

Kambiz

Posted by: Kambiz Kamrani | November 30, 2007 11:05 PM

I saw this one too; it looks interesting. I'm not sure I like so many news outlets saying that Paranthropus was our ancestor, though, as it somewhat confuses things.

Posted by: Laelaps | November 30, 2007 11:46 PM

I notice one of the links is headed, "How Our Ancestors Were Like Gorillas". I was certainly under the impression that Paranthropus was a side line to us but I suppose headlines are important when marketing articles. I've even read a book that claims Paranthropus may actually be gorilla ancestors but I believe that idea has not been widely accepted.

Posted by: terryt | November 30, 2007 11:54 PM

Relationships are often debated, and most in the field have just stopped drawing arrows completely, but I don't know a single person in the field who thinks that paranthropines were ancestral to humans. That's just wrong.

It's kind of a running joke how every news article has at least one blatant distortion. National Geographic is surprisingly bad. BBC often has the best coverage, although they've had some doozies as well.

Posted by: secularskeptic | December 1, 2007 3:51 AM

Is there really anything to suggest that their social pattern wasn't more like that of baboons? I've always thought of gorillas as somewhat regressed socially compared to the common ancestor, likewise the orangutan. Indeed, this regression may have occurred after the appearance and spread of Homo erectus and relatives.

If the ancestors of the "great apes" were no larger than modern gibbons, which is in the same range as baboons, it would be plausible that the general social pattern was similar. This could plausibly have been the pattern of the common ancestor of apes and old world monkeys, with large variations in behavior and sexual dimorphism between, and even within, individual species.

Gibbons, then, would have been forced into their high-altitude brachiating lifestyle by competition from Cercopithecine monkeys and "great apes", perhaps especially erectus.

Posted by: AK | December 1, 2007 8:28 AM

I wasn't all that fond of them labeling Paranthropus an ancestor either.

Posted by: afarensis, FCD | December 1, 2007 11:33 AM

Thanks for the links.

Posted by: Kris Verburgh | December 1, 2007 12:39 PM