Taung Child facts for kids
The Taung Child is a very old fossil of a skull. It also has a natural imprint of its brain. This amazing fossil belongs to an early human ancestor called Australopithecus africanus. It was found in 1924 by a quarry worker in Taung, South Africa. A scientist named Raymond Dart quickly understood how important this discovery was. He wrote about it in a science magazine called Nature in 1925. He said it was a new type of ancient human relative.
At that time, many British anthropologists believed in the "Piltdown Man." This was a fake fossil that had a big brain and ape-like teeth. The Taung Child was the opposite, with a smaller brain and more human-like teeth. Because of this, many scientists did not accept Dart's discovery for many years.
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What the Taung Child Fossil Looks Like
The fossil includes most of the skull, face, and lower jaw with teeth. It also has a natural endocast, which is like a stone mold of the inside of the braincase. Scientists believe this fossil is about 2.5 million years old.
The Taung Child was likely around three years old when it died. It stood about 3 feet 6 inches (105 cm) tall and weighed around 20-24 pounds. Its brain size was about 340 cubic centimeters. This ancient human relative lived mostly in a savanna habitat, which is like a grassland with scattered trees.
How the Taung Child Grew
Scientists have compared the Taung Child to modern children. They found that A. africanus grew up at a similar speed to modern chimpanzees. This is different from modern humans (Homo sapiens), who grow more slowly into their teenage years. However, later human ancestors, like Homo ergaster and Homo erectus, grew at a speed between apes and modern humans. Much of this information comes from studying another famous fossil called Turkana boy, found in 1984.
How the Taung Child May Have Died
In 2006, scientists announced something interesting about the Taung Child. They believe it was probably killed by a large bird, like an eagle. They noticed damage on the skull and around the eyes that looked similar to injuries seen on the skulls of monkeys killed by modern eagles.
The left side of the brain mold (endocast) of the Taung Child is covered in beautiful calcium carbonate crystals.
The Importance of the Taung Child Discovery
The Taung Child fossil is very important. It was one of the first fossils found in the 1920s and 1930s that showed humans have their own long natural history. This supported what Charles Darwin had predicted about human evolution.
Today, the Taung Child skull is kept at the University of Witwatersrand in South Africa.
Images for kids
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Robert Broom, a Scottish doctor and paleontologist, was a big supporter of Raymond Dart.
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Scientists working to recover missing parts of the Taung Child skull.
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A front view of the Taung Child cast.
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Phillip Tobias with the Taung Child fossil.
See also
In Spanish: Niño de Taung para niños
