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New Hominid Species Found in S. Africa

Discoveries

Discovered by researcher’s 9-year-old son.

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Denis Farrell / AP Images

Welcome to the hominid family, Australopithecus sediba. Anthropologists in South Africadiscovered the new hominid species after researcher Lee Berger’s 9-year-old son stumbled upon the fossils on a hill. The fossils are from both a boy and a woman that lived between 1.78 and 1.95 million years ago. Their interesting anatomy has a human-like pelvis, which indicates upright bipedal walking, but also long ape-like arms for climbing in trees. The anthropologists think it’s possible that it is a species that led directly to modern humans. Their findings will be published Friday in the journal Science.

Read it at The New York Times