Some cool extinct animals images:
Australopithecus sediba juvenile male skull - Smithsonian Museum of Natural History - 2012-05-17
Image by Tim Evanson
Cast of the skull of a juvenile Australopithecus sediba on display in the Hall of Human Origins in the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C.
Australopithecus sediba was discovered on August 15, 2008, by nine year old Matthew Berger on the Malapa Nature Reserve in South Africa.
The name Australopithecus means "southern ape", while the name sediba means "spring" in the language of the Sotho people. Australopithecus sediba lived about 2 million years ago. These individuals probably fell or climbed into a deep hole in the ground with water at the bottom. There they drowned (along with the remains of a number of animals), and the lime and sand in the water allowed the remains to become fossilized.
Australopithecus sediba is probably a transitional species between Australopithecus africanus and Homo erectus. It had a modern-like hand, and a pelvis more suited to walking that its upright ape-like ancestors. It had a brain about one-third the size of modern humans, and may have created simple tools. Its teeth are more like Homo erectus (slender), but are spaced like those of Australopithecus africanus. It was probably omnivorous.
Little else is known about the species, except that it most likely lived in small family groups.
