Australopithecus

{{title-italics}}[[File:Musée national d'Ethiopie-Australopithecus garhi (1).jpg|thumb|right|165px|Partially-reconstructed skull from ''A. garhi'' fossils]]
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'''''Australopithecus''''' is an [[extinction|extinct]] genus of the family [[Ape|hominidae]], order [[primate]]s, that lived in eastern and southern [[Africa]] about 2 to 4 million years ago.  This [[hominid]] is regarded by [[Palaeontology|paleontologists]] as being ancestral to the genus ''Homo'' and [[Transitional fossil|transitional]] between ancestral [[ape]]s and [[human]]s.  [[Species]] of the genus include ''Australopithecus anamensis'' (about 4 million years ago), ''Australopithecus afarensis'' (3.9 to 2.9 million years ago), and ''Australopithecus africanus'' (2-3 million years ago) and used to include species now classified in the genus ''Paranthropus'' such as ''P. robustus'' and ''P. boisei'', also ''[[Australopithecus sediba]]''.

Perhaps the most famous australopithecine is Lucy, a 40 percent complete ''A. afarensis'' [[fossil]]ized skeleton about 3.2 million years old discovered by Donald Johanson in 1973.  The Laetoli footprints, discovered by Mary Leakey in Tanzania in 1976, are believed to be the 3.6 million-year-old traces of two or three ''A. afarensis'' individuals preserved in volcanic ash.

==Physical characteristics==
The [[brain]] size of ''A. afarensis'' was about 400 cc, much smaller than that of a human.  Its skull had characteristics common to an ape's, although the crowns of the teeth were small like a human's.  As with apes, [[male]]s of the species, at about four feet tall, were significantly larger than females.  The arms and fingers were between the length of an ape's and a human's.

''A. afarensis'' was obviously bipedal as evidenced by its lower skeletal structure, which strongly resembles that of a human.  In particular the construction of the pelvic girdle, neck of the femur, knee joint and thigh bone arrangement, and heel bone indicates bipedal locomotion.  This conclusion is confirmed by analysis of the shape of the footprints preserved at Laetoli.

==Creationists on australopithecines==
[[Creationism|Creationists]] have apparently concluded that human [[evolution]] from the likes of ''Australopithecus'' is incompatible with the belief in [[Biblical literalism|Biblical inerrancy]].  The [[Jehovah's Witnesses]] publication ''[[Life--How did it get here? By evolution or by creation?]]'' deals with this incompatibility by presenting only [[evidence]] of the australopithecines' apelike characteristics while suppressing evidence of qualities that are humanlike.  The [[author]] then concludes, "If any australopithecines were found alive today, they would be put in zoos with other apes.  No one would call them 'ape-men.'"<ref>''Life--How did it get here?  By evolution or by creation?''.  Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York, Inc.  Brooklyn, New York.  1985.  p. 94</ref>

The [[Institute for Creation Research]] deals with the problem of the transitional nature of the australopithecines by denying that they were bipedal.  In their publication ''Acts & Facts'' they note, "Australopithecus, in the view of some leading evolutionists, was not intermediate between ape and man and did not walk upright,"<ref>[[Duane Gish|Gish, Duane]].  [http://www.icr.org/article/summary-scientific-evidence-for-creation/ "Summary of Scientific Evidence for Creation (Part I & II)"].  ''Acts & Facts''.  Institute for Creation Research.  May 1, 1981.</ref> and cite the counter-[[Scientific consensus|consensus]] opinion of Charles Oxnard.

[[Jack Chick]]'s answer is to claim that [[lying for Jesus|"most experts now agree Lucy was an unusual chimpanzee not a missing link.]]<ref>[https://www.chick.com/reading/tracts/0055/0055_01.asp/ Big Daddy?]</ref>

==See also==
*[[Australopithecus sediba]]
*[[Linnaean taxonomy]]

==External links==
*[http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/homs/a_piths.html Creationist Arguments: Australopithecines] on [[talk.origins|TalkOrigins]]
*[http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/homs/species.html#afarensis Hominid species]:  Australopithecus afarensis on TalkOrigins
*[http://evolutionwiki.org/wiki/Australopithecus Australopithecus] EvoWiki article
*[http://www.huecotanks.com/debunk/hominid.htm Australopithecus Afaransis and the Creationists], Lenny Flank, 1995
*[http://www.gocomics.com/tomthedancingbug/2014/01/23 Charley the Australopithecus]

==References==
{{reflist}}

[[Category:Hominids]]
[[Category:Evolution]]

Categories: Hominids, Evolution