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Ardi is the earliest and best-documented descendant of that common ancestor. But despite being "so close to the split," says White, the surprising thing is that she bears little resemblance to chimpanzees, our closest living primate relatives. The elusive common ancestor's bones have never been found, but scientists, working from the evidence available - especially analyses of Australopithecus and modern African apes - envisioned Great-Great-Grandpa to have looked most nearly like a knuckle-walking, tree-swinging ape. But "[Ardi is] not chimplike," according to White, which means that the last common ancestor probably wasn't either. "This skeleton...
...knows what that reason was, but a theory about Ardi's social behavior may hold a clue. Lovejoy thinks Ar. ramidus had a social system found in no other primates except humans. Among gorillas and chimps, males viciously fight other males for the attention of females. But among Ardipithecus, says Lovejoy, males may have abandoned such competition, opting instead to pair-bond with females and stay together in order to rear their offspring (though not necessarily monogamously or for life). The evidence of this harmonious existence comes from, of all things, Ardipithecus' teeth: its canine teeth are relatively stubby compared...
Deducing such details of social behavior is, admittedly, speculative - and several researchers are quick to note that some of the authors' other major conclusions need further discussion as well. One problem is that some portions of Ardi's skeleton were found crushed nearly to smithereens and needed extensive digital reconstruction. "Tim [White] showed me pictures of the pelvis in the ground, and it looked like an Irish stew," says Walker. Indeed, looking at the evidence, different paleoanthropologists may have different interpretations of how Ardi moved or what she reveals about the last common ancestor of humans and chimps...
According to Amadio, a ransom note was found that demanded money and also included a death threat. “If someone tries to kill you for [the artwork], you let it go,” he said...
...perhaps the most confusing part of the piece is why Cohen has chosen to label Harvard as a less “moral” cause than any other. Ultimately, Harvard is one of the most positive organizations that can be found in society, with contributions ranging from groundbreaking academic research to educating many of our nation’s leaders. With perhaps the most generous financial-aid initiative of its kind, the university has actively transformed itself from an enclave of the American social establishment into a vibrant intellectual community filled with individuals from the around the country...