Little Foot’s shoulders hint at how a human-chimp common ancestor climbed

The shape of the ancient hominid’s shoulder blades points to gorilla-like way of tree climbing

Little Foot hominid skeleton photographed from above

A new analysis of shoulder fossils from a 3.67-million-year-old South African hominid called Little Foot indicate that its gorilla-like build provides the best available model for what a human-chimp last common ancestor looked like.

Paul John Myburgh

Little Foot, a nearly complete hominid skeleton painstakingly excavated from rock inside a South African cave, shouldered a powerful evolutionary load.