Dodoma – New bipedal hominin footprints discovered in Laetoli, in Tanzania, indicate the presence of a marked morphological variability among our ancestors of 3.6 million years ago and open up new perspectives on the study of their social behavior. The study was realized with the contribution of Jacopo Moggi-Cecchi, of the Department of Biology of the University of Florence, who worked in a team led by the Paleoanthropology University School of Perugia, in collaboration with researchers from the University of Dar es Salaam, University of Rome and Pisa. The research results were published in the “eLife” magazine. “Given the relationship that exists in Primates between the degree of sexual dimorphism and the type of social organization – noted Moggi-Cecchi – we can assume that the social structure of these our ancestors were, in all probability, similar to those of current Gorilla, that is, harems with an adult male and several females with offspring “. (9Colonne)
