Australopithecus Sediba
A Moment of Science

Australopithecus Sediba

B2Upper-intermediateSeptember 24, 20262 min
  • Science

Australopithecus Sediba

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Australopithecus sediba. The species was first discovered in 2008 in South Africa, when

old. Since that time, researchers have discovered more lumbar vertebrae from one of these individuals'

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How well do you know your relatives? How about your ancient relatives? Thanks to fossil finds, scientists now know a lot more about our ancient human relative, Australopithecus sediba. The species was first discovered in 2008 in South Africa, when fossils from two individuals were found and dated to be approximately 2 million years

0:25

old. Since that time, researchers have discovered more lumbar vertebrae from one of these individuals' lower backs. They've nicknamed the fossil skeleton ESA. ESA is one of the most complete skeletons of an ancient hominin ever found, and her lower back is in the running for the best preserved hominin lower back we have. Researchers have been able to use these vertebrae

0:47

to figure out a lot more about how this ancient human relative lived. Like humans, Australopithecus sediba had only five lumbar vertebrae. Previous research on ESA's less complete skeleton led to hypotheses that sediba had a relatively straight lower spine, rather than the more curved lumbar region of modern

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