Ardipithecus is a genus of early hominid found in Ethiopia that lived approximately 4.4 million years ago. It is considered a descendant of Orrorin tugenensis and a direct ancestor of australopithecines. There were two species, A. ramidus and A. kadabba. A. ramidus had a skull similar in size to great apes and evidence shows it moved in a bipedal manner. New evidence from the Aramis site in Ethiopia, where a partial skeleton of A. ramidus was found, indicates through sedimentological and isotopic analysis that it lived in a river-margin forest within a savanna landscape, in

1. ANTONIO SAORÍN 1ºB
Ardipithecus

2. ARDIPITHECUS

Ardipithecus is a fossil genus of primate
hominid found in Ethiopia that is considered
descendants of Orrorin tugenensis and direct
ancestors of the australopithecines

3. SPECIES

There are two species of Ardipithecus
described: a. ramidus, and a. kadabba,

4. SKULL

they moved in a bipedal manner. The size of
its brain was similar to the great apes
current

5. Homo sapiens
Homo neanderthalensis
Homo
erectus
H. heidelbergensis
1 Ma
Paranthropus
boisei
H. ergaster
P. robustus
?
2 Ma
Homo
rudolfensis
A. africanus
P. aethiopicus
3 Ma
Homo
habilis
A. garhi
?
?
4 Ma
Australopithecus
afarensis
?
Ardipithecus ramidus
?
Australopithecus anemensis
?

6. Gorilla
gorilla
Pan
trogolodites
Homo sapiens
Homo neanderthalensis
Homo
erectus
H. heidelbergensis
1 Ma
2 Ma
H. ergaster
Paranthropus
robustus
Paranthropus.
boisei
?
Homo
rudolfensis
A. africanus
P. aethiopicus
A. garhi
?
3 Ma
Homo
habilis
Australopithecus
afarensis
4 Ma
?
Australopithecus anemensis
?
?
5 Ma
Ardipithecus
ramidus
?
6 Ma
Orrorin tugensis
?
7 Ma
Sahelanthropus tchadensis
“Toumai”
?

7. HABITAT
The recent works on
Ardipithecus ramidus, a 4.4
million years old hominin
found at Middle Awash,
Ethiopia, provided critical
information about the early
part of human evolution.
However, habitat
characterization of this basal
hominin has been highly
contested.
Here we present new sedimentological and
stable isotopic (carbon and oxygen) data from
Aramis, where the in situ, partial skeleton of Ar.
ramidus (nicknamed 'Ardi') was excavated.
These data are interpreted to indicate the
presence of major rivers and associated mixed
vegetations (grasses and trees) in adjacent
floodplains. Our finding suggests that, in
contrast to a woodland habitat far from a river,
Ar. ramidus lived in a river-margin forest in an
otherwise savanna (wooded grassland)
landscape at Aramis, Ethiopia. Correct
interpretation of habitat of Ar. ramidus is crucial
for proper assessment of causes and
mechanisms of early hominin evolution,