Australopithecus afarensis

High school (ages 12+)
History & Culture

Name:

Date:

Step 1 · Read the article

Open the article and read it at the level above. Then answer the questions below in your own words.

https://smallwhale.org/articles/australopithecus-afarensis

Write what each word means, using the article.

Do not copy the article. Write two things you learned, the way you would explain them to a friend.

Answers below are taken from the article’s stored facts, so they match what the student read.

1. What is the scientific name?Australopithecus afarensis
2. What is the conservation status?Extinct
3. Who was Lucy and why is she famous?Lucy is a famous skeleton of Australopithecus afarensis, discovered in 1974. She helped scientists learn how early humans walked upright.
4. When and where did Australopithecus afarensis live?They lived in East Africa about 3.9 to 2.9 million years ago, during the Pliocene period. Fossils were found in places like Hadar, Ethiopia, and Laetoli, Tanzania.

Hominin: The group consisting of modern humans, extinct human species, and all our immediate ancestors.
Arboreality: The state of living in trees, involving adaptations for climbing and arboreal locomotion.
Phylogenetic: Relating to the evolutionary development and history of a species or group.