Reacción a "Footprints of coexistence of different hominids described in Kenya 1.5 million years ago"

The paper by Hatala et al. makes a significant contribution to the field of palaeoanthropology by providing direct evidence for the coexistence of different hominin species in the Early Pleistocene, a phenomenon that had hitherto been inferred only from scattered fossil data. The study's findings are based on detailed analyses of fossilised footprints from the FE22 site at Koobi Fora, Kenya, supported by robust methods including comparison with other sets of footprints of similar age, modern humans and chimpanzees. The identification of two distinct patterns of bipedalism attributable to Homo erectus and Paranthropus boisei suggests broader locomotor diversity than previously thought, opening new insights into ecological interactions between these species.

This work aligns with previous studies on hominin diversity in the Pleistocene, but brings the novelty of documenting divergent locomotor patterns on the same footprint surface. This finding suggests not only the coexistence of these species, but also the possibility of differentiated ecological strategies that allowed them to share the same lake habitat.

In terms of implications, this work underlines the importance of considering behavioural and locomotor diversity in models of human evolution. Differences in bipedalism could reflect specific ecological adaptations, potentially reducing direct competition and favouring coexistence. These results invite future research that combines the analysis of fossilised footprints with other lines of evidence, such as human fossils and archaeological materials, to understand more comprehensively how ecological and behavioural dynamics influenced Pleistocene evolutionary processes.