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Palaeontologists have made a stunning find in the Ethiopian desert — the fossil remains of a child from the primitive human species Australopithecus afarensis, of which the iconic fossil Lucy is a member. The skeleton, represents the first juvenile remains from this chapter of human evolution, making it the oldest child ever discovered.

WWW.NATURE.COM/NATURE This press release is copyright Nature. VOL.443 NO.7109 DATED 21 SEPTEMBER 2006 Editorial contacts: While the best contacts for stories will always be the authors themselves, in some cases the Nature editor who handled the paper will be available for comment if an author is unobtainable. Editors are contactable via Ruth Francis on +44 20 7843 4562. Feel free to get in touch with Nature's press contacts in London, Washington and Tokyo (as listed at the end of this release) with any general editorial inquiry. Warning: This document, and the Nature papers to which it refers, may contain information that is price sensitive (as legally defined, for example, in the UK Criminal Justice Act 1993 Part V) with respect to publicly quoted companies. Anyone dealing in securities using information contained in this document or in advanced copies of Nature’s content may be guilty of insider trading under the US Securities Exchange Act of 1934. PICTURES: While we are happy for images from Nature to be reproduced for the purposes of contemporaneous news reporting, you must also seek permission from the copyright holder (if named) or author of the research paper in question (if not). HYPE: We take great care not to hype the papers mentioned on our press releases, but are sometimes accused of doing so. If you ever consider that a story has been hyped, please do not hesitate to contact us at press@nature.com, citing the specific example. PLEASE CITE NATURE AND OUR WEBSITE www.nature.com/nature AS THE SOURCE OF THE FOLLOWING ITEMS. IF PUBLISHING ONLINE, PLEASE CARRY A HYPERLINK TO http://www.nature.com/nature Human evolution: 'Lucy's baby' found in remote Ethiopian outpost (pp; 296-301 &332-336; N&V) Palaeontologists have made a stunning find in the Ethiopian desert — the fossil remains of a child from the primitive human species Australopithecus afarensis, of which the iconic fossil Lucy is a member. The skeleton, unveiled in this week's Nature, represents the first juvenile remains from this chapter of human evolution, making it the oldest child ever discovered. The 3.3-million-year-old fossil, found at a research dig in Dikika, Ethiopia, was probably female and no more than 3 years old when she died. The skeleton's features support the theory that A. afarensis walked upright, but the surprisingly gorilla-like arms suggest that it might also have been skilled at swinging through the trees, report palaeontologists led by Zeresenay Alemseged. The discovery was made in a region that already has a rich history of human fossil finds. Geological mapping, reported in an accompanying paper by Jonathan Wynn and colleagues, provides the first comprehensive physical map of the area, called the Hadar Formation, placing the discovery into its geological context. CONTACT Zeresenay Alemseged (Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany) From 16-24 September at National Museum of Ethiopia, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia Tel: +251 911 86 23 86, or +251 911 44 81 83; Email: zeray@eva.mpg.de or: zerayat@yahoo.com After 24, September Tel: +49 341 35 50 353; E-mail: zeray@eva.mpg.de Jonathan Wynn (University of South Florida, Tampa, FL, USA) Tel: +1 813 974 9369; E-mail: jwynn@cas.usf.edu Fred Spoor (University College London, UK) Co-author Until 19 Sep Tel: +44 20 7679 4316, (work) or: +44 20 7249 2806 (home) From 21 Sep Tel: +49 34 13 550748, (Max Planck) or: 49 341 96530 (hotel) E-mail: f.spoor@ucl.ac.uk Bernard Wood (The George Washington University, Washington DC, USA) Tel: +1 202 994 6077; E-mail: bernardawood@gmail.com N&V Author Images are available on request. PRESS CONTACTS… For North America and Canada Katie McGoldrick, Nature Washington Tel: +1 202 737 2355; E-mail: k.mcgoldrick@naturedc.com For Japan, Korea, China, Singapore and Taiwan Itsumi Kitahara, Nature Tokyo Tel: +81 3 3267 8751; E-mail: i.kitahara@natureasia.com For the UK/Europe/other countries not listed above Ruth Francis, Nature London Tel: +44 20 7843 4562; E-mail : r.francis@nature.com About Nature Publishing Group Nature Publishing Group (NPG) is a division of Macmillan Publishers Ltd, dedicated to serving the academic, professional scientific and medical communities. NPG's flagship title, Nature, is the world's most highly-cited weekly multidisciplinary journal and was first published in 1869. Other publications and services include Nature research journals, Nature Reviews, Nature Clinical Practice, a range of prestigious academic journals, including society-owned publications, news content from news@nature.com and scientific career information from Naturejobs. NPG is a global company, with headquarters in London and offices in New York, San Francisco, Washington DC, Boston, Tokyo, Paris, Munich, Hong Kong, Melbourne, Gurgaon, Mexico City and Basingstoke. For more information, please go to www.nature.com.

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