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Human footprint fossil6/9/2023 ![]() The underside of a bear's paw looks a bit like a broad human foot - except for the fur and claws. The soles of their back paws look remarkably human-like too, except their biggest toe is on the outer edge of their foot - where our fifth piggy toe is. When walking upright, they take short, wide steps. Our bodyweight then rolls onto our toes before we push off to take the next step, she said.īears, too, are plantigrades. When we walk, our heel hits the ground first. Humans are "plantigrades" or heel-strikers. Then, Dr McNutt and her crew compared the original footprints with bear prints. To find out what kind of creature left the mysterious five, short, wide footprints, Dr McNutt and her colleagues first had to re-excavate the footprints, which had been abandoned by researchers decades ago. ![]() ![]() "This is some of our oldest unequivocal evidence of two hominin species existing together," Dr McNutt said. afarensis and the unknown species - lived in the region at the same time. A species of hominin, Australopithecus afarensis - the species of the famous "Lucy" fossil - certainly lived in the area at the time.īut Dr McNutt and her colleagues' analysis suggests the diminutive walker was a different hominin altogether.Īnd if that's the case, then at least two types of hominin - A.
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