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Hi Homo sapien! Welcome to Animal Database! Anyway, did you know that you're 60% genetically similar to banana trees?

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Homo habilis is an archaic species of hominin which lived between roughly 2.1 and 1.5 million years ago, during the Early Pleistocene. The species was first discovered by anthropologists Mary and Louis Leakey at Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania in 1955, associated with the Oldowan stone tool industry.

The first confirmed remains found at Olduvai consist of several teeth and a lower jaw associated with fragments of a cranium and some hand bones. As more specimens were unearthed at locations such as Koobi Fora in northern Kenya, researchers began to realize that these hominins were anatomically different from Australopithecus, a genus of more-apelike creatures whose remains had been found at many African sites. Formal announcement of the discoveries was made in 1964 by anthropologists Louis S.B. Leakey, Phillip Tobias, and John Napier.

Formerly it was classified as part of the genus Homo, and believed to be an ancestor of Homo erectus. However, its ape-like appearance has caused questioning of its placement in Homo. Due to this it was proposed to be an Australopithecine. That is until later studies revealed that H. Habilis was contemporanean with Homo erectus. Due to this it could not be an Australopithecine nor the ancestor of Homo erectus. Eventually, a phylogenetic analysis revealed that H. Habilis was actually a split off from the Australopithecine lineage leading to Homo, and that it was a sister taxa to Australopithecus sediba. This means that both H. Habilis and A. Sediba need to be placed in their own genus.

As justification by Louis S.B. Leakey, Phillip Tobias, and John Napier for designating their new creature Homo, they described the increased cranial capacity and comparatively smaller molar and premolar teeth of the fossils, a humanlike foot, and hand bones that suggested an ability to manipulate objects with precision—hence the species name Homo habilis, or “handy man.” Whoever all of this justifications are no longer valid because:

-The Homo species H. Naledi had a relatively small brain the size of an orange, yet it was found to be very complex. Meaning that the variety of brain size amongst Homo species is a result of adaptations for the skull and the brain to adjust with the size and proportions of the body.

-Australopithecus species are now confirmed to posses human-like feet.

-Australopithecus species where also found to use stone tools with precision.

-The molar and premolar teeth are still very primitive compared to those of Homo species.

Stone tools where found among fossils of this species, although they where rather simple.

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