I’m sure many of you have read/heard about the Ardipithecus papers released last Friday. I got the papers Friday while I was heading to the middle of nowhere Missouri, but haven’t gotten a chance to read them all yet. Just as it appears that Ardi preferred a forested habitat, I tried my own hand at a more foresty lifestyle while camping this weekend.

The major thing I’ve taken from what I’ve been able to read about Ardi is that it has an abducted big toe–unlike any other fossil hominin foot we’ve seen so far. More on this, other Ardi anatomy, and the implications of the fossils to come…