"Lucy's" body height and relative leg length: human- or ape-like?
The body height of Australopithecus afarensis A.L. 288-1 ("Lucy") has recently been estimated and calculated as between 1 m to 1.06 m; other estimates give ca. 1.20 m. In addition, it is often stated that her relative leg length was shorter than that of modern humans. Using relative leg-, femur- and tibia length it is shown that both statements together can not be true; either her body height must at least have been around 1.06 to 1.10 m to give "Lucy" human-like leg proportions, or, to achieve a shorter, more ape-like leg ratio, a body height of ca. 1.20 m must be assumed.
Helmuth
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Dept. of Anthropology, Trent University, Peterborough/Ont.
D000818:Animals; D001827:Body Height; D005269:Femur / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D005580:Fossils; D015186:Hominidae / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D006801:Humans; D013977:Tibia / Q000033:anatomy & histology*