New species discovered 3.7 million years old: The bearer of 'bear steps'

Fossil bear footprints once discovered in volcanic ash in northern Tanzania have been re-identified as an unknown human species, 3.7 million years old.

Bear-like footprints of ancient humans 3.7 million years old.

New research led by anthropologist Ellison McNutt from Ohio University (USA) has flipped through studies of distinctive footprints discovered in an area called Laetoli Site A, an ancient trail with 18,400 fossil animal footprints, unearthed since 1978.

According to Science Alert, one of the footprints, belonging to an ancient crude human, was once mistaken for a bear's footprint.

The enigmatic individual is a short creature, possibly nearly 100cm tall, possibly a child, but possessing a rather crude body with wide and short feet. But the scientists found traces of a clear big toe, a long second toe and a heel shape that belonged to humans, different from bears and chimpanzees.

In one section of the road, footprints show that the creature took cross-legged steps, possibly trying to balance because of a near-fall due to the terrain. Normal steps also show the two feet moving fairly close together and it is clear that the creature walked on two legs.

Initially, the creature was thought to be a southern ape, but upon closer inspection, this individual has quite different morphological features. Dating results show that the mysterious ancestor is 3.7 million years old.

In the paper published in Nature, the scientists confirmed it was a new human species, but more research is needed and they are aggressively searching for other fossil evidence.