Anthropologists are suddenly tearing up their long-held origin tale-That modern humans evolved from hunched, proto-human apes roaming the wide-open savannas of old. The discovery of a 4,4-mil-lion-year-old hominid named Ardipithecus ramidus (fondly shortened to "Ardi") suggests that for a stretch during the early Pliocene, our ancestors instead lived in lush woodlands and walked on two feet. In fact, Ardi's unexpected traits put to rest the whole idea of a chimplike missing link at the root of the human family tree.
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