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FACTOID!!
There are over 25,000 different kinds of orchid plants. Twenty thousand of these live by perching on other plants. A single orchid plant may produce up to 1 million seeds.


Human ancestor a real knuckle-dragger


Human ancestor a real knuckle-dragger
Scientists taking a new look at the fossil remains of the earliest known hominid have discovered that early humans probably scooted along on their knuckles much like chimps do, rather than walking fully upright. "Lucy", as the fossilized hominid is known, lived in Africa between 3 and 4.1 million years ago. She represents an early hominid line called "Australopithecus afarensis". Until recently, no-one had thought to examine the wrist bones of early hominid fossils and when Brian Richmond and David Strait of George Washington University did, they discovered that Lucy's wrist bones were stiff, like a chimp's. This suggests that early humans did not have free use of their hands for carrying food or using weapons or tools. Like chimps and gorillas, Lucy could not flex her hands backwards like modern humans do. This discovery suggests that using hands more flexibly came after early humans developed the mode of walking upright.
28 MARCH 2000
The Vancouver Sun
28 MARCH 2000

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