Australopithecus garhi
From Freepedia
| Australopithecus garhi Conservation status: Fossil | ||||||||||||||||
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| Australopithecus garhi Asfaw, et al, 1999 |
Australopithecus garhi is a recently discovered fossil that was initially believed to be a human ancestor species and the final missing link between the Australopithecus genus and Homo. However it is now believed that A. garhi, although more advanced than any other australopithecine, was only a competitor species to the species ancestral to Homo and therefore not a human ancestor. The remains are from the time when there is very few fossils, between 2.0-3.0 million years ago. Tim White was the scientist to find the first of the key A. garhi fossils in 1996 near the village of Bouri, located in the Afar region of Ethiopia. The species epithet garhi means "surprise" in the local Afar language.
