Lab Notes: The extinct ape-like human relative that made tools

Around 1.5 million years ago, in what's now Kenya, a human-like figure walked across the savannah. 

He was probably quite short by our standards, no taller than Danny DeVito. 

But unlike Danny DeVito, this ancient figure was not human. He was a long-extinct relative of ours called Paranthropus boisei. 

And now his fossilised hand bones are giving us never-before-seen insights into how he and his species lived. 

You can binge more episodes of the Lab Notes podcast with science journalist and presenter Belinda Smith on the ABC Listen app (Australia). You'll find episodes on animal behaviour, human health, space exploration and so much more.

Get in touch with us: labnotes@abc.net.au

Featuring: 

• Carrie Mongle, palaeoanthropologist at Stony Brook University and the Turkana Basin Institute 

More information: 

New fossils reveal the hand of Paranthropus boisei

Fossil hand bones hint that ancient human relative Paranthropus made tools 1.5 million years ago

This episode of Lab Notes was produced on the lands of the Wurundjeri and Menang Noongar people.