Australopithicenes

Australopithecenes are a form of early human that lived from about 4 million years ago until about 1.5 million years ago. They lived in south and east Africa in a wide range of environments. They walked on two legs, and had a mixture of ape and human like features. They had ape like limb proportions, but smaller canine teeth than apes. Their brain sizes were slightly higher than chimpanzees, ranging from about 450 cc to 600 cc. They have been linked at the same sites as stone tools, though the stone tools aren't attributed to them. The first, the Taung child, was found by Raymond Dart in 1924 at the Taung Limestone Works in South Africa. Subsequent finds were found all over Africa. There are currently four species, the gracile Australopiths: Australopithecus africanus, Australopithecus afarensis, and the robust australopiths: Paranthropus robustus and Paranthropus boisei.