What is Laetoli?
Q: What is Laetoli?
A: Laetoli is a site in Tanzania, dated to the Plio–Pleistocene. It is famous for its hominin footprints, preserved in volcanic ash.
Q: Where is the site of the Laetoli footprints located?
A: The site of the Laetoli footprints is 45 km south of Olduvai gorge.
Q: Who excavated the Laetoli footprints?
A: The Laetoli footprints were excavated by archaeologists Louis and Mary Leakey in 1978.
Q: Why did “The Laetoli Footprints” get a lot of attention from the public?
A: “The Laetoli Footprints” got a lot of attention from the public because they are convincing evidence of bipedalism in Pliocene hominins. Dated to 3.6 million years ago, they were the oldest known evidence of hominin bipedalism at that time.
Q: What species are believed to have made these footprints at Laetoli?
A: After debate, it was decided that Australopithecus afarensis is the species of the three hominins who made the footprints at Laetoli. This is based on detailed footprint analysis compared both human and bipedal animals such as bears and primates, as well as reconstruction of foot skeleton remains found at this site.
Q: How does A. afarensis differ from Homo genus?
A: A. afarensis had a brain size very similar to that modern chimpanzees and gorillas but was adapted to living in open woodland and savannah due to its obligate bipedalism, unlike Homo genus which evolved larger brains before becoming bipedalists..
Q: What phenomenon explains why different traits evolve at different rates among animals?
A: This situation where different traits evolve at different rates among animals is known as mosaic evolution
