PALEONTOLOGICAL PUZZLE

Nature Paper Sparks Heated Debate Over First Human Fossil

Did this creature, nicknamed Toumaï, from seven million years ago walk upright or on all fours? It depends who you ask.

Prompted by a paper last week in Nature, fossil experts are wrapped up in a heated debate about a 7 million-year-old ape-like creature fondly nicknamed Toumaï. Some believe that he could walk on two feet and is the oldest member of the human race; others claim that Toumaï really walked on four feet and is part of the extinct species Sahelanthropus tchadensis, and that scientists of the first camp are cherry-picking data. Beliefs that the creature walked upright stem from analysis of its skull shape, which supposedly expresses emotion—more than a chimpanzee-related creature would have had. Analysis of leg bones suggest that it walked on all fours. “The dispute is rancorous even for paleontology, a field noted for the bitterness of its controversies over the interpretation of ancient skulls and bones,” The Guardian said.