FOR KIDS: Shoulder bones fuel debate

FOR KIDS: Shoulder bones fuel debate

Fossil shoulder blades suggest an ancient humanlike species may have been at home in the trees as well as on the ground

By Stephen Ornes

Web edition: November 26, 2012

Fossil shoulder blades suggest an ancient humanlike species may have been at home in the trees as well as on the ground

By Stephen Ornes

Web edition: November 26, 2012

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This shoulder blade comes from a 3-year-old humanlike female that lived more than 3 million years ago. It's offering scientists clues to the creature traveled.

Credit: Courtesy of Zeresenay Alemseged/Dikika Research Project

Shoulder blades are the triangular bones that stick out of your back like small wings. Also known as scapulas, they connect different parts of the body. Without these bones, you couldn?t climb a tree. The surprising orientation of these bones?in a now-extinct humanlike species suggests it may have been a tree climber.

Visit the new?Science News for Kids?website?and read the full story:?Shoulder bones fuel debate

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Citations

B. Bower. Shoulder fossil may put Lucy?s kind up a tree. Science News Online, October 25, 2012. [Go to]

Source: http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/346669/title/FOR_KIDS_Shoulder_bones_fuel_debate__

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