What is Australopithecus anamensis?
Q: What is Australopithecus anamensis?
A: Australopithecus anamensis is a species of Australopithecus.
Q: When was the first fossilized specimen of the species discovered?
A: The first fossilized specimen of the species was discovered in 1965 by a Harvard University research team in Pliocene strata in the Kanapoi region of East Lake Turkana.
Q: Who found additional fragments of the hominid at Allia Bay, near Lake Turkana, Kenya?
A: Canadian archaeologist Allan Morton (with Harvard University's Koobi Fora Field School) discovered additional fragments of the hominid at Allia Bay, near Lake Turkana, Kenya.
Q: What did Meave Leakey and Alan Walker uncover when they excavated the Allia Bay site?
A: Meave Leakey and Alan Walker uncovered several additional fragments of the hominid when they excavated the Allia Bay site, including one complete lower jaw bone which closely resembles that of a common chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes) but whose teeth are much more similar to those of a human.
Q: In what year were these fossils assigned to A. anamensis?
A: In 1995, Meave Leakey and her associates assigned these fossils to A. anamensis.
Q: Where does A. anamensis get its name from?
A: A. anamensis gets its name from the Turkana word "anam", meaning "lake".
