New Kenyan Fossils Expand The Range Of Australopithecus

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Comparative photographs of fossil hominin ulnae. KNM-RK 53525 was discovered at the Kantis Fossil Site. Scale bar = 1 cm. E. Mbua et al., Journal of Human Evolution 2016

Researchers studying fossils uncovered in the outskirts of Nairobi reveal that they belonged to the same species as Lucy, Australopithecus afarensis. This is the first time a fossil from this extinct genus was discovered east of the Rift Valley, suggesting that the range of our Australopithecus ancestors was much bigger than we thought.