A New Ancestor

Recently, in South Africa, a new human relative fossil was dug up, which suggests a new point of view of the evolution of mankind.  The relative, named Homo naledi, was surprisingly more complete, and intact, than most relatives, suggesting that Homo naledi is mankind's closest ancient relative.  This idea of a whole new path of evolution, doesn't exactly excite all pathologists.

With a whole new species thrown into the mix, it "changes the human story."  The features of this new found species includes, the already discovered, bipedalism, high intelligence and herbivore-ish diets; as well as some new features such as an ape-sized brain, but Homo-like feet and teeth.  For those pathologist who are not in denial, they believe that Homo naledi just aids in proving that the human genome evolved from multiple different Homo species, creating this very diverse world in which we live in today; and that our ancestry is a "tangle of branches" on the phylogenic tree of life.

I found this article highly interesting, especially since my last semester Biology class spoke of phylogeny and how it is all a big guessing game.  Every time a new species, or ancestor, is introduced, there is no single right or wrong answer as to who should be placed where.  However, sometimes when a wrench, like this, is thrown into the mix, we may need to take a step back and do some rearranging.