Research papers reveal Homo naledi’s feet looked like those of humans and its hands, with broad thumbs and curved fingers, could make tools and climb trees Scientists on Monday and Tuesday released more details about the hands and feet of Homo naledi, a new species of human relative discovered in the Cradle of Humankind.While the two research papers published in Nature Communications do not change the story thus far, namely that H. naledi had unique characteristics that enabled it to both walk on two legs and climb trees, they provide important new details to fellow scientists.The discovery of H. naledi was announced in the journal e-Life last month, by a research team led by University of the Witwatersrand paleoanthropoligist Lee Berger. Their claim that H. naledi is a new species has been met with scepticism by some scientists, who argue the bones look very much like those of Homo erectus, but no one disputes the scientists have unearthed a haul of fossils on an unprecedented scal...
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