RANCHO CUCAMONGA, CALIFORNIA—According to a statement released by Chaffey College, a team of researchers from Chaffey College, New York University, and the University of California, Riverside, suggests that the curvature of the forearm observed in the 3.67-million-year-old Australopithecus skeleton known as “Little Foot” may not have been the result of a childhood fall from a tree, as had been previously suggested. The scientists examined the forearms of humans who had suffered similar injuries, and analyzed the shapes of the forearm bones of apes, hominins, and modern humans. They found that the curvature in Little Foot’s forearm most resembles that of orangutans, and is a normal anatomical feature in apes and many early hominins. The shape of the bone could reflect the use of the arms in locomotion, they concluded. Based upon the shape of Little Foot’s ankle bones, it had been thought that the creature walked upright. For more on Little Foot, go to "Sticking Its Neck Out."
