Australopithecus anamensis (4.2 to 3.9 million years ago)
Australopithecus anamensis possesses a mix of advanced
and primitive traits. A partial tibia (the larger of the two lower leg bones)
suggests that A. anamensis probably walked upright. The teeth of A.
anamensis were covered with a layer of enamel much thicker than that of
Ar. ramidus, suggesting a diet of hard-to-chew foods. The thickened
enamel is also a trait characteristic of all later hominids. In size and shape,
however, the teeth of A. anamensis were primitive relative to later
hominids. A. anamensis probably lived in open woodland habitats in what
is now northern Kenya and southern Ethiopia.
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