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Different ways of ‘getting a grip’

Researchers uncover new evidence of how ancient human relatives in South Africa used their hands, revealing varying levels of dexterity and climbing ability

Scientists have found new evidence for how our fossil human relatives in South Africa may have used their hands. Research led by Samar Syeda, postdoctoral researcher at the American Museum of Natural History, together with scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, the University of the Witwatersrand, University of Kent, Duke University and the National Geographic Society, investigated variation in finger bone morphology to determine that South African hominins not only may have had different levels of dexterity, but also different climbing abilities.

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© Tracy Kivell