7-Million-Year-Old Sahelanthropus Fossils Reveal Early Upright Walking

• New research on 7-million-year-old Sahelanthropus tchadensis fossils from Chad suggests early human relatives walked upright.
• NYU paleoanthropologists analyzed a femur and forearm bones, finding bipedal traits like a femoral tubercle and pronounced antetorsion.
• These features, previously unique to hominins, indicate adaptations for stabilizing the hip and aligning knees for upright locomotion.
• Sahelanthropus tchadensis likely practiced habitual bipedalism while retaining arboreal abilities, showing a gradual evolution of walking.
• The findings, published in Science Advances, challenge assumptions and link early hominins to chimpanzee-like ancestors.

Why It Matters: Ancient Sahelanthropus fossils provide strong evidence for early, gradual upright walking in human ancestors.