Lucy and Ardi: Beginning of Human Origins Essay

Many bulk often consider our introductory milestone in life to be our first step. It is the beginning of galore(postnominal) important developments as an individual. It was also the beginning of our development as a species. Dr. Donald Johanson and Dr. Tim sporting sight 2 of the near amazing specimens that would be the stepping-stones to the beginning of evolutionary development. genus genus genus Australopithecus Af bensis (Lucy) and Ardipithecus Ramidus (Ardi) were the first dodos found in Africa that showed signs of primordial evolutionary development that is connected to homo sapiens in the evolutionary maneuver.Lucy and Ardi are important to our evolutionary development because they were the first fossils to show effective go as their elementary locomotion. Ameri give the gate paleoanthropologist, Dr. Donald Johanson, light-emitting diode the police squad that discovered Australopithecus Afarensis in 1974 at Hadar in the Awash V alley in Ethiopia. The discoin tr uth of Lucy was very significant, which was because the build showed tell of a small skull that resembled that of an caricature and of bipedal good bowel movement that is akin to that of kinds. Lucy is go egress back to ab step forward 3. 2 million long time ago.Lucys species survived for over 900,000 days, which is over four multiplication as long as our own species has been around. A. Afarensis, which are equal to chimpanzees, grew rapidly after birth and pull aheaded maturity earlier than modern day humans. Lucy was about the time of 11-12 years old more thanover the formation of all of her teeth showed that he was fully matured for her species una standardised modern day humans were that isnt reach till later years (Johanson The pursuit for human Origins). This meant Lucys species had a shorter period of growing up than modern humans bear today.A. Afarensis had both ape-like and human characteristics such(prenominal) as ape-like faces, which is described as monotonic nosed and sloping glare jaw that juts out underneath the dispositioncase. Also Lucy had a small brain that was about 13 fluid ounces and 400 trine-d centimeters, which is about one ternary the size of a modern human brain. They also had long, strong blazonry with curves fingers approximately likely adapted for rearing trees to cover up the land animals that would attack them and also picking result from up in the trees.They also had small cuspid teeth that resembled early humans and most importantly had a body that stood on 2 legs and on a regular basis passing played equitable. This was one of the most important features of A. afarensis because their adaptations for living both in the trees and on the ground helped them survive for close to a million years as the humour and environment changed (Johanson The demand for Human Origins). Twenty years after the breakthrough of Lucy, Dr. herds grass White led a team into Middle Awash cranial or opus of the Ethiopia where he discovered the first fossils of the second biggest discovery since Lucy.Ardipithecus Ramidus was uncovered in over 100 fossil specimens in the Awash area. At the time of the discovery, the genus Australopithecus was scientifically well established, so White devised the genus pass water Ardipithecus to distinguish this new genus from Lucys species. In 2009, scientists formally announce and published the findings of a partial shape nicknamed Ardi. Ardi is estimated to be about 4. 4 millions years old. Tim White and his team found bits and pieces of Ardis skeleton, which were heavily damage due to erosion, and the pressure of geology.Ardis skull was flat with loping lower jaw that juts out underneath the braincase corresponding to Lucy. The pelvis of Ardi after existence reconstructed from a crushed specimen, suggested that even though it was not as tall as the apes it showed similarities. Also it showed adaptations that combined tree mountaining and bipedal a ctivity. White and his colleagues that worked on Ardi suggested that Ardi was a female that was a bit thumping. She was about 1. 2 meters tall and about 50 kilos, which was a bit large since that was the size of a male afarensis (Johanson The Quest for Human Origins).Lastly a partial skeleton of Ardi combines human and other primate traits. Ardi locomote in the trees using a grasping big toe, provided her pelvis was shorter and broader than an apes, indicating that she could walk bipedally. on that point were legion(predicate) pieces of evidence that proved Australopithecus afarensis to have been walking upright for thousands of years. Dr. Don Johanson brought up human like characteristics in Lucys bones that indicated she walked upright. One of Lucys most striking characteristics was her knee joint, which indicated that she normally moved by walking upright.Her greater trochanter, however, was clearly derived, being short and human-like rather taller than the femoral head (Lov ejoy). another(prenominal) piece of evidence that proves Lucy walked upright was the formation of her pelvis. Her pelvis and leg bones were almost identical in function to those of modern humans, showing with certainty that these hominids had walked bipedally. The third piece of evidence that made it undoubtedly that Australopithecus afarensis walked upright was the footprints found at Laetoli in Yankee Tanzania.In 1976, Mary Leakey discovered hominid footprints that was maintain in volcanic ash and unearthed 1978. The Laetoli Footprints and skeletal twist excavated showed clear evidence of bipedalism. Many believe the three individuals who made these footprints belonged to the species Australopithecus afarensis. The footprints demonstrated that Australopithecus afarensis walked upright habitually, as thither were no knuckle or hand impressions found near the footprints. The footprints didnt have the mobile big toe as the apes do instead, they had an arch, which the typical moder n humans have (Leakey 81-86). by and by the discovery of Ardipithecus Ramidus, Tim White and Owen Lovejoy came up with many pieces of evidence that would place Ardi on the Human Evolutionary Tree. The femoris and pelvis of Ardipithecus have characters that indicate both upright bipedal walking and movement in trees. Ardis pelvis was more blunt than Lucys precisely all the same contained characteristics to walk upright bipedally. Researchers say Ardi was a facultative biped (Lovejoy). That means Ardi was able to walk on two legs but only for a short period of time.Donald Johanson said in The Quest for Human Origins that when moving on the ground Ardi would move bipedally, but when in the trees she was quadrupedal. Lastly Ardi had very large divergent great toe, which was belike used to climb trees. Using those feet to grasp on to the branches helped them stay out of the reach of the attackers on the ground and also climb to get fruit in the trees. Lucy and Ardi are two important specimens in history that helped us square off more about the past human origins. there were many differences and similarities between Ardi and Lucy.The main and probably most obvious similarity was the ability to walk upright. This was probably the most important characteristic that connected Homo sapiens, Australopithecus Afarensis and Ardipithecus Ramidus together. Also another similarity was the formation of both pelvises. Lucys was more distinctively similar to the modern human but Ardis still contained characteristics that made it more human than ape. Something that Ardi and Lucy also had in common was that both walked bipedally on the ground, but when in the trees they were quadrupedal.Being over a million years apart Lucy and Ardi also had some differences. Ardi was more primitive than Lucy in that she looked more like apes and had more characteristics of them. On the other hand Lucy was more developed than Ardi such as having a slightly bigger brain, having more human li ke anatomy when it came to the bones, and Australopithecus afarensis fatigued more of their days walking bipedally than in the trees. The discoveries of Australopithecus Afarensis and Ardipithecus Ramidus have changed the way we connect our human origins to the past. Dr.Donald Johanson and Dr. Timothy White have brought to us these wonders that help us understand not exactly where our species come from but where some of our human origins and characteristics started. With the evidence presented, I can agree with the interpretations of Ardi and Lucy because through science and reasoning there isnt any doubts and anyone can bring up. There may be many subtopic arguments about the possibleness of evolution but they all end up with the same conclusions that Lucy and Ardi is the first stepping-stone to connect our human origins to the evolutionary tree.After Dr. Donald Johanson and Dr. Tim White discovered the two most amazing specimens that would happen to be the beginning of evolution ary development. Lucy and Ardi are important to our evolutionary development because they were the first fossils to show upright walking as their primary locomotion. After all the evidence that many anthropologist, archeologist, and paleoanthropologist discovered and examined to prove that Lucy and Ardis ability to walk upright is clear that they are ancestors in our human evolutionary tree.