シミュレーションによると、絶滅したオーストラロピテクス類の人類祖先は現代人と同様の出産課題に直面しており、骨盤底に高い圧力がかかり裂傷のリスクがあった。研究者らは3種のオーストラロピテクスの骨盤を分析してこれらの力をモデル化。この知見はこれらの初期祖先における潜在的な骨盤底障害の可能性を強調している。
オーストラロピテクスにとって、出産は大きなリスクを伴っていた。この初期の人類祖先は、200万年から400万年前にアフリカに生息し、直立二足歩行をし、木に適応しており、石器を使用していた可能性があり、ホモ属とのつながりを示唆している可能性がある。
A new analysis shows that childbirth difficulties affect numerous primate species, often more severely than in humans. Researchers found that many primates must deliver large-headed infants through narrow pelvises, a challenge that may date back to the earliest primates over 50 million years ago.
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Researchers have found fossil teeth in Ethiopia indicating that early Homo and an unknown Australopithecus species shared the landscape between 2.6 and 2.8 million years ago. The discovery adds to evidence that human evolution involved multiple overlapping lineages rather than a single straight path.
Genetic analysis of remains from Belgium and France indicates that some of the last Neanderthals in north-western Europe lived in diverse, connected groups. The findings suggest inbreeding was not a major factor in their extinction around 40,000 years ago.
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Researchers at the University of Oxford have found that upright walking and larger brains likely drove the strong right-hand preference seen in modern humans. The findings come from an analysis of primate species and extinct hominins.
A new study suggests Earth's first animals evolved slowly because they reproduced asexually, limiting competition in ancient oceans. Researchers from the University of Cambridge say a later shift to sexual reproduction helped drive a surge in biodiversity during the Ediacaran period.