- Location
- Physical and biological characteristics
- Teeth
- Context
- Communication
- Cranial capacity
- Habitat
- Tools
- Activities
- Extinction of the species
- References
The Paranthropus robustus or Australopithecus robustus is a species of hominin that lived 1.8 to 1.2 million years ago in South Africa. It owes its name to the paleontologist Robert Broom, who made the discovery of the species in South Africa in 1938. Until then, the species was not known, the find was initially made when he bought a fragment of a molar that a child sold him.
Gert Terblanche was the child who found the first skull and jaw fragments, only at that time he did not know the magnitude of his find until the paleontologist Broom carried out the relevant studies.
Ditsong National Museum of Natural History, from Wikimedia Commons
Broom's passion motivated him to conduct talks and research in the area, which later led to the discovery of skeletal fragments, five teeth and part of the cranial structure of Paranthropus robustus.
Location
The initial find of the Paranthropus robustus species by Broom was at the Kromdraai site in South Africa and later found the remains of 130 robustus at Swartkrans.
The paleontologist named the species Paranthropus, which means "next to man." The name robustus was given by the shape of its teeth, which has a large size, and by the structure of the skull.
In the following years, two species that are part of the Paranthropus family were discovered, which received the names of Aethiopicus and Boisei.
However, some scientists differ from the paleontologist Broom and consider that the species should not be called Paranthropus, since for them it belongs to the Australopithecus family. Therefore, the three species should be named Australopithecus robustus, A. boisei and A. aethiopicus.
So far, Robert Broom, has been the only one to find remains of the Paranthropus robustus.
Physical and biological characteristics
Paranthropus robustus belongs to the fossil hominid species, which comes from the hominoid primate family. Therefore, the specimen was able to maintain an upright position and walk.
The Paranthropus are also known as robust Ustralopithecines or Paranthropes and are descended from the Australopithecus.
The specialists who carried out the scientific studies on the specimen revealed that it lived 1.8 to 1.2 million years ago and it is believed that it only managed to reach 17 years of age. It was characterized by having a robust anatomy in its skull and its teeth were resistant.
Another of its important characteristics is that it had a sagittal crest that attached the muscles of the jaw to the skull, which allowed it to consume large and fibrous foods. It should be noted that the force of the bite was in the premolars, which were large and wide.
On the other hand, the results of the investigations concluded that there were differences between females and males.
In this sense, the males weighed 54 kilograms and were 1.2 meters tall, and the females weighed 40 kilograms and were approximately 1 meter tall.
Despite having robust features on the skull and jaw, the Paranthropus robustus was not very large, its build is comparable to Australopithecus.
Teeth
As for his teeth, one of the most outstanding characteristics is that he had thick tooth enamel, small incisors and large molars. In addition, it had a high, solid, short, robust jaw with powerful chewing.
Context
From its body anatomy it can be noted that the sacroiliac joints were small. It had long arms and the vertebrae were also small.
It had a long femoral neck and was shown by the bones found to have a different tactile finesse than Australopithecus, which allowed it to be more agile in finding food.
In 2007, investigations revealed that Paranthropus robustus presented a sexual dimorphism, due to which there was a greater development in the females and a lesser in the males.
Scientists found evidence that males monopolized females, leading to deaths among male species. For this reason, the remains of the bones found were from young males.
Studies also show that they were bipedal. However, although the species managed to walk, its brain activity was not fully developed, so it was not an intelligent hominin.
Communication
One of the most characteristic activities of Paranthropus robustus has to do with the act of communication.
Among the most outstanding peculiarities of this hominid stands out the ability they had to listen, although they could not speak like humans.
To verify the auditory ability, based on the characteristics of the human ear, comparative studies were carried out between the sensory capacities of chimpanzees, Paranthropus robustus and P. robustus australopithecus africanus.
In 2013 the scientists working on the study indicated that Paranthropus robustus had enough elements in their structure that allowed them to have a hearing capacity similar to that of chimpanzees and gorillas, which are the closest species to humans.
It was also discovered that in open habitats Paranthropus robustus were able to communicate vocally thanks to their hearing ability.
Cranial capacity
The brain of the Paranthropus robustus was developed and tall, similar to that of a chimpanzee: it measured between 410 and 530 cc. At the top it had a sagittal crest, similar to that of a gorilla, which gave it greater jaw strength.
Compared to other species, its brain was small relative to Homo. However, the cranial structure was larger than that presented by Australopithecus.
Importantly, the surface of the skull and crest was smaller in females. In the case of males, the cranio-encephalic cavity was prominent.
The characteristic of his skull allowed him to have a particular feature in his physiognomy: his cheeks had large and wide bones (zygomatic arches) that gave his face a similar shape of a plate. Another aspect of the specimen's face indicated that it was short and with a vertical front.
Habitat
The Paranthropus robustus species was located south of the African continent, in tropical areas and open grasslands such as Coopers Cave, Drimolen, Swartkrans, Kromdraai and Gondolin.
The fossil remains analyzed in Swartkrans show that P. robustus lived, in addition to caves, in camps that they built with bones, animal horns and stones on the shores of lakes.
The caves or caverns used to be the predominant habitats of the species, since in these they hid from predators such as leopards.
It is important to highlight that there was no migration of Paranthropus robustus to other continents; the species only remained in southern Africa.
Because they developed in a savanna and open forest environment, their diet was based on tubers, insects, rhizomes, nuts, roots, seeds, and small animals, among other elements.
On the other hand, it is estimated that for a million years it managed to coexist with another species similar to Homo.
Tools
Research by Robert Broom and other scientists has not found specific tool findings. However, the studies succeeded in identifying fragments of animal horns, stones and bones at the Swartkrans site, which were possibly used as tools.
Likewise, it is presumed that the tools were used to build their homes and dig hills of termites, with which they fed since they are a highly nutritious source of protein.
Those were the results of the studies that were carried out on the remains of the tools found; not much more information is known about it yet.
Activities
There are very few records of the activities carried out by P. robustus. However, as they belong to the bipedal family (those with the ability to walk upright on two feet), they moved in search of food.
On the other hand, it is known that they always formed large groups and did not like to live alone, since they were hunted by leopards.
P. robustus were also known to value family. The children lived with their mothers and only grew apart when they formed their own family group.
Extinction of the species
Several hypotheses about the cause of its extinction are handled. One of the main causes is attributed to leopards, since the remains of Paranthropus robustus show that these mammals made a fatal wound in the brain that caused death.
The fossil remains of Paranthropus robustus that presented this fatal wound were found outside the caves where they lived. It is believed that leopards, after hunting them, climbed trees to eat their prey, which is why the remains were found scattered outside the caves.
Scientists point out that this could be the main cause of its extinction, 1.2 million years ago.
However, other studies do not rule out the possibility of climatic factors, as well as competition with other living beings such as Homo erectus, which lived in Africa at the time, or the evolution of the species.
To date, studies carried out on the remains of Paranthropus robustus have not yielded a specific cause that explains its disappearance from Earth.
References
- Australopithecus robustus. robustus is a robust Australopithecine. Retrieved on September 6, 2018 from Archeology info: archeologyinfo.com
- Paranthropus Robustus. Retrieved on September 6, 2018 from Bradshaw Foundation: Bradshawfoundation.com
- Paranthropus robustus (2.017) Retrieved on September 6, 2018 from Eager to know: afanporsaber.com
- Paranthropus Robustus. Retrieved on September 6, 2018 from Wikipedia: es.wikipedia.org
- Paranthropus Robustus. Retrieved on September 6, 2018 from Human Origins: humanorigins.si.edu
- Paranthropus Robustus - Online Biology Dictionary. Retrieved on September 6, 2018 from Macroevolution: Macroevolution.net
- Paranthropus robustus (2016.) Retrieved on September 6, 2018 from Juan Manuel Fernández López in Paleo anthropology today: Paleoantropologiahoy.blogspot.com
- Paranthropus robustus - The History of Our Tribe. Retrieved on September 6, 2018 in Homininimilnepublishing: Milnepublishing.geneseo.edu
- Human evolution. Retrieved on September 6, 2018 from Daniel Tomás. IES Abastos, Valencia in Mc Libre: mclibre.org
- Australopithecine. Retrieved on September 6, 2018 from Ecured: ecured.cu
- Retrieved on September 6, 2018 in Ecured: ecured.cu
- Early hominin auditory capacities - Science Advances. Retrieved on September 6, 2018 in Advances sciencemag: advances.sciencemag.org
- African hominids somewhat hard of hearing. Retrieved on September 6, 2018 in El País: Elpais.com
- Retrieved on September 6, 2018 in Add Education: educacion.es