Are all Homo naledi skeletons found in the South African cave female?

All the Homo naledi skeletons found in the South African cave might be from female members of this ancient group, but scientists aren’t sure yet!

What’s a Homo naledi?

Think of Homo naledi like a new kind of person that lived long, long ago. They were similar to us, they had hands and feet that helped them walk and climb, but not exactly the same as humans today.

Why do scientists think they might all be female?

In the cave where these skeletons were found, there were a lot of bones, more than 1,500! But almost all of them came from adults, and a lot of them had signs that they were female. Scientists noticed this pattern when they looked at parts of the bones like hips and teeth.

What does it mean?

If most of the skeletons are from females, maybe that means these people lived in groups and had special places to rest or sleep, just like how we might all go to our rooms after a long day.

But scientists need more clues to know for sure, like finding baby bones or checking the size of the bones!

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Examples

Scientists use bones to guess if a fossil is male or female, like how you can tell a dog is a boy or girl by looking at its size.
They found many Homo naledi bones in a cave and wondered if they were all from females.
Some skeletons might be from males, which means not everyone in the group was female.

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Categories: Science · Homo naledi· fossils· gender determination