Three million year old brain imprints show that Australopithecus afarensis infants may have had a long dependence on caregiversA new study led by paleoanthropologists Philipp Gunz and Simon Neubauer from the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany, reveals that Lucy’s species Australopithecus afarensis had an ape-like brain. © Philipp Gunz, CC BY-NC-ND 4.0Contrary to previous claims, the endocranial imprints of Australopithecus afarensis reveal an ape-like brain organization, and no features derived towards humans. Based on these endocasts the researchers could measure endocranial volume, and infer key aspects of brain organization from impressions of brain convolutions in the skull. The Dikika child’s endocranial imprint reveals an ape-like brain organization, and no features derived towards humans. “Our data show that Australopithecus afarensis had an ape-like brain organization, but suggest that these brains developed over a longer period of time than in chimpanzees,” concludes Philipp Gunz.

Source: Ethiopian News April 01, 2020 18:00 UTC