Australopithecus afarensis Scapular Ontogeny, Function, and the Role of Climbing in Human Evolution

Abstract

Climbing Like an Ape Recently, studies of several early human leg and foot fossils have implied that in some early species—even after humans became bipedal—climbing may have still been important. Shoulder bones, which would provide i mportant complementary information, are scarce, however. One of the few examples is from Australopithecus afarensis skeleton (DIK-1-1), which includes both scapula. Green and Alemseged (p. 514 ; see the Perspective of Larson ) provide an analysis of the fossil's shoulders and show that, unlike modern humans, they retain several traits that are common in climbing apes, which may indicate that A. afarensis was an active climber.