Ardipithecus kadabba (abbreviated Ar. kadabba) is a species of very early hominid. It is now extinct. It lived from around 5.8 million to 5.2 million years ago.[1]
It is one of two species in the genus Ardipithecus. The other is Ardipithecus ramidus.
The name "kadabba" refers to the word for "oldest ancestor" in the Afar language of Ethiopia.[2]
Discoveries
The first Ar. kadabba fossil was found in 1997 by paleoanthropologist Yohannes Haile-Selassie. At first, he thought the fossil came from a subspecies of Ar. ramidus. Then he found another 11 specimens from at least 5 individuals.[3]
These specimens included hand and foot bones, partial arm bones, and a collarbone.[2] They were later dated to be 5.6 million to 5.8 million years old.[2]
In 2002, scientists found six Ar. kadabba teeth at the Asa Koma archaeological site in the Afar Depression.[2] These confirmed that Ar. kadabba was its own unique species, not a subspecies of A. ramidus.[4] Scientists later learned that Ar. kadabba came before Ar. ramidus and was probably its ancestor.[5]
In total, scientists have found 19 Ar. kadabba specimens that include parts of the teeth, jaw, feet, and hands and arms.[2]
Description
A 5.2-million-year-old toe bone found by Haile-Selassie shows an adaptation for walking upright. This suggests that Ar. kadabba may have been bipedal.[6]
Their bodies and brains were probably a similar size to modern chimpanzees'.[2] Their diet probably included a lot of tough, fibrous foods, like hard nuts.[2]
Based on fossil animal evidence found near Ar. kadabba remains, the species lived in a wooded area with access to permanent fresh water sources (like lakes and springs). The area included swamps and grasslands.[6]
References
- ↑ "Australopithecus | Characteristics & Facts | Britannica". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 2025-12-16.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "Ardipithecus kadabba". The Smithsonian Institution's Human Origins Program. Retrieved 2025-12-16.
- ↑ Haile-Selassie, Y. (2001). "Late Miocene hominids from the Middle Awash, Ethiopia". Nature. 42 (6843): 179–181. Bibcode:2001Natur.412..178H. doi:10.1038/35084063. PMID 11449272. S2CID 4432082.
- ↑ Haile-Selassie, Y.; Suwa, G.; White, Timothy Douglas (2004). "Late Miocene Teeth from Middle Awash, Ethiopia, and Early Hominid Dental Evolution". Science. 303 (5663): 1503–1505. Bibcode:2004Sci...303.1503H. doi:10.1126/science.1092978. PMID 15001775. S2CID 30387762.
- ↑ Lovejoy, C. O. (2014). "Ardipithecus and Early Human Evolution in Light of Twenty-First-Century Developmental Biology". Journal of Anthropological Research. 70 (3): 337–363. doi:10.3998/jar.0521004.0070.301. JSTOR 24394231. S2CID 84197134.
- 1 2 "Ardipithecus kadabba • Becoming Human". Becoming Human. Retrieved 2025-12-16.