Three-dimensional volumetric muscle reconstruction of the Australopithecus afarensis pelvis and limb, with estimations of limb leverage. Royal Society Open Science , 2023; 10 (6) DOI: 10.1098/rsos ...

Humans evolved for distance running — but ancestor ‘Lucy’ didn’t go far or fast 3D models of Australopithecus afarensis suggest the muscular adaptations that made modern humans better runners.

Lucy, our 3.2 million-year-old ancestor of the species Australopithecus afarensis, may not have won gold in the Olympics – but new evidence suggests she was able to run upright.

Walk like Australopithecus afarensis 3D muscle reconstruction shows 3.2 million-year-old “Lucy” walked upright "Lucy’s muscles suggest that she was as proficient at bipedalism as we are." ...

A sculptor's rendering of the hominid Australopithecus afarensis in an exhibition that included the 3.2 million-year-old fossilized remains of "Lucy." (Image credit: Dave Einsel via Getty Images) ...

Australopithecus afarensis looked like a mix between modern humans and other great apes. Imagine an individual who stands around 150 centimeters (just under 5 feet) tall, with a chimp-like face ...

Computer models of her muscles and bones show that Lucy was not a natural runner. It seems that Australopithecus afarensis -- the early hominin species to which Lucy belonged -- was not well ...

Australopithecus afarensis is one of the best-known early human ancestors dating from 2.9 to 3.9 million years ago.

Researchers made a virtual reconstruction of the leg and pelvic muscles — which are not preserved in fossils — of the female Australopithecus afarensis, or Lucy, who probably was “not a ...

A sculptor's rendering of the hominid Australopithecus afarensis is displayed as part of an exhibition that includes the 3.2 million year old fossilized remains of "Lucy", the most complete ...

Dr Ashleigh Wiseman has 3D-modelled the leg and pelvis muscles of the hominin Australopithecus afarensis using scans of ‘Lucy’: the famous fossil specimen discovered in Ethiopia in the mid-1970s.

Fossils of early human ancestors from a South African cave are 3.4 million to 3.6 million years old – making them a million years older than previously suspected and shaking up the way ...