Orrorin tugenensis

From EvoWiki

Orrorin tugenensis ("Original man") is an extinct hominid species which may be a common ancestor of modern humans and chimpanzees. Orrorin lived between 6.2 abd 5.6 million years ago in east Africa. The species is known from fossils of the lower jaw, teeth, digits and arm bones, and partial remains of a femur, discovered by Pickford and Senut in the Tugen Hills of Kenya in 2001.

The limb bones are 1.5 times larger than the Australopithecus afarensis specimen, "Lucy", about the size of a modern female chimp. The Orrorin femur is humanlike and the muscle attachments suggest bipedality. The canines are large and molars small, and the teeth had thick enamel, suggesting an omnivorous diet or hunter-gatherer lifestyle. The arm and finger bones retain arboreal climbing adaptations. Associated fossils suggest a mixed woodland and savanna environment.

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