Examination of Homo Floresiensis brain cavity provides conclusive evidence that the hobbit is indeed a new species, according to a study published today in Science:
Reconstruction of the brain of Homo floresiensis, the 18,000-year-old hominid standing just over 3ft tall, revealed features that put it firmly on a different branch of humanity’s family tree. The findings refute suggestions that the skeleton belonged to a pygmy, or a modern human being with microcephaly, a congenital disorder that stunts brain growth.
Homo floresiensis’s brain is markedly different from that of either, and from that of chimpanzees and Homo erectus, the human ancestor from which it is thought to have evolved. “What we have here is a little brain unique in its appearance compared to anything seen before,” Dean Falk, Professor of Anthropology at Florida State University, said.“It’s got to be a new species. The scaling of brain to body isn’t at all what we’d expect to find in pygmies, and the shape is all wrong to be a microcephalic. This is something new.”
Carl Zimmer has more.
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