The ancient remains of the Australopithecus afarensis were discovered in Ethiopia in 1974 The hyperrealistic artistic reconstruction of the female Austrolopithecus afarensis (Lucy), based on finds ...

Researchers made a virtual reconstruction of the leg and pelvic muscles — which are not preserved in fossils — of the female Australopithecus afarensis, or Lucy, who probably was “not a ...

Lucy, our 3.2 million-year-old ancestor of the species Australopithecus afarensis, may not have won gold in the Olympics – but new evidence suggests she was able to run upright.

Humans evolved for distance running — but ancestor ‘Lucy’ didn’t go far or fast 3D models of Australopithecus afarensis suggest the muscular adaptations that made modern humans better runners.

However, Haile-Selassie and colleagues discovered Australopithecus Afarensis fossils at the Woranso-Mille site, which is only 30 miles (48 km) north of the site in Ethiopia, where Lucy was discovered.

A 2022 study in Nature, focused on Lucy’s pelvis, concluded that newborn members of Australopithecus had a very immature brain, like human newborns today, and required parental support to survive.

Lucy was identified as a member of a new species called Australopithecus afarensis. The debate over whether she was our ancestor, a grandmother to humanity and the missing link between apes and ...

And her remarkable species, Australopithecus afarensis, may have been our direct ancestor. Our discoveries about Lucy have transformed our understanding of humanity's tangled family tree.

If an efficient two-legged stance kept Lucy grounded, as suggested by another A. afarensis fossil find (SN: 6/21/10), then she probably died from some other cause.

Lucy walked on her own two feet. Scientists weren’t expecting that. We take a look back at the discovery of ‘Australopithecus afarensis’ 50 years ago.

Curious Kids is a series for children of all ages. If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, send it to ...

Lucy was a member of the species Australopithecus afarensis, an extinct hominin – a group that includes humans and our fossil relatives. Australopithecus afarensis lived from 3.8 million years ago to ...