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Taung Child refers to the fossil of a skull specimen of Australopithecus africanus. It was discovered in 1924 by quarryman working for the Northern Lime Company in Taung, South Africa. Raymond Dart, an anatomist at the University of Witwatersrand, received the artifact, recognized its importance and published his discovery in the journal Nature in 1925, describing it as a new species. Unfortunately, the British establishment was at the time enamored with the hoax Piltdown man, which had a large brain and ape-like teeth -- the exact opposite of the Taung Child -- and Raymond Dart's finding was not appreciated for decades. Image File history File links Taung_child. ...
Binomial name †Australopithecus africanus Dart, 1925 Australopithecus africanus was an early hominid, an australopithecine, who lived between 3. ...
In astronomy, geology, and paleontology, mya is an acronym for million years ago and is used as a unit of time to denote length of time before the present. ...
Taung is a small town situated in North West Province of South Africa. ...
Binomial name †Australopithecus africanus Dart, 1925 Australopithecus africanus was an early hominid, an australopithecine, who lived between 3. ...
Taung is a small town situated in North West Province of South Africa. ...
Raymond Dart, holding the Taung Child skull Raymond Dart (February 4, 1893–22 November 1988) was an Australian anatomist and anthropologist best known for his discovery in 1924 of a fossil of Australopithecus at Taung in Northwestern South Africa. ...
The University of the Witwatersrand is a leading South African university situated in Johannesburg. ...
First title page, November 4, 1869 Nature is one of the oldest and most reputable scientific journals, first published on 4 November 1869. ...
The portrait painted by John Cooke in 1915. ...
Families Hylobatidae Hominidae Apes are the members of the Hominoidea superfamily of primates, which includes humans. ...
 Taung-1 front Image File history File links Taung1f. ...
Description
The fossil consists of most of the face and mandible with teeth and, uniquely, a natural endocast of the braincase. It is estimated to be 2.5 million years old.
Taung Child is believed to have been a three-year-old being at the time of its death. It was a creature standing 3' 6" (105 cm) at approximately 20-24 pounds. Taung Child had a cranial capacity of 340 cc, living mainly in a savanna habitat. Examinations of Taung Child compared to that of an equivalent 9-year-old child suggest that A. africanus had a growth rate to adolescence the same as in modern apes like chimpanzees (genus Pan) than compared with modern Homo sapiens. However intermediate species such as Homo ergaster/Homo erectus are thought to have gone through growths intermediate between modern humans and apes. The evidence has mostly been based on that of Turkana Boy discovered in 1984.
In early 2006 it was announced [1] that the Taung Child was likely killed by an eagle (or similar large predatory bird). This conclusion was reached by noting similarities in the damage to the skull and eye sockets of the Taung Child to the skulls of primates known to have been killed by modern eagles.
History Its significance lies in the fact that this was the first of the fossils which had been found in the twenties and thirties to provide evidence that the human race does indeed have a 'natural history' all of its own - just as Darwin had predicted. For other people of the same surname, and places and things named after Charles Darwin, see Darwin. ...
The skull is now (as of 2007) in repository at the University of Witwatersrand. The University of the Witwatersrand is a leading South African university situated in Johannesburg. ...
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