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retire human ancestors faced the threat of saber-toothed

The oldest known ancestor of humanity probably lived in fear of large creatures known as saber-toothed roamed the same old habitat in Africa.

Paleontologists identified two new species of saber-toothed cats from fossils unearthed in Menalla Toros in Chad.

In 2001, a team in the central African country unearthed the remains of an extinct hominid species, a creature similar to humans and seven million years, known as "Toumai (Sahelanthropus tchadensis).

Toumaï Experts say that is the oldest hominid known to science.

Toumaï The fossil skull (which means "hope of life" in the local language of Chad Dazaga) was found in the desert Djurab by a team led by Michael Brunet of the University of Poitiers, France.

The position of a larger hole located at the bottom of the skull called the foramen magnum suggests that Toumai walked upright, a trademark of the human race.

The brain stem enters and exits the skull through the hole. In great apes, is located more towards the back of the skull, but in hominids including Toumaï-is closer to the front of the skull. After

disclosed their finding in the pages of the scientific journal Nature in 2002, the fossil was a sensation worldwide.

However, the interpretation of Toumaï as a human family member is controversial. The skull was distorted and if there are other parts of the skeleton, no proof has been published in the scientific literature. It is also older than the date on which the gene indicates that the lineages of humans and chimpanzees diverged. Land

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In any event, paleontologists have been busy studying the abundant fossil material discovered on the site, gradually building a picture of the environment in which Sahelanthropus tchadensis unfolded.

In the late Miocene, this area of \u200b\u200bChad must have had a lake and that paleontologists have found fossils of fish, amphibians and crocodiles.

Researchers found fossilized remains of a variety of carnivorous mammals in Menalla Toros. Finish

sharp jaws of a predator must have been an ever present threat both to the Toumaï primates.

Paleontologists had already reported the discovery of remains of a large saber tooth Menalla Bulls, known as Machairodus kabir, which weighed between 350 and 490kg.

The journal Comptes Rendus Palevol, Louis de Bonis, University of Poitiers and colleagues added two new species of saber tooth to the growing list of carnivores that stalked the region of Central Africa in the late Miocene.

Large remains of these cats were unearthed during recent field trips and have been identified as new species of the genus Megantereon Lokotunjailurus and gender. Forest shelter



Patrick Vignaud, director of the Institute of Human Paleontology Paleoprimatología and the University of Poitiers, told the BBC that the saber tooth were almost the same size as today's lions.

"With our current information, we do not know precisely what were the interactions between a primate and a large carnivore, but probably, these interactions were not so friendly," added Professor Vignaud.

"The saber-toothed mammals hunted all kinds: cattle, horses and primates ... The interactions were also more 'psychological', put pressure on potential prey. We can not prove it, but probably is important because in this case, the primates had to live near the indoors as gallery forests, "he told the BBC. Although primates

old as Sahelanthropus tchadensis may have been away from the saber tooth also may have depended on these large carnivores, and others, for their survival.

have saber teeth hunted large herbivorous mammals and probably left enough meat on their prey for scavengers such as Hyaenictherium, and perhaps even primates such as Sahelanthropus.

Some researchers have proposed that the Toumai is more closely related to chimpanzees or gorillas. Even if this were the case, the discovery would be of great importance, since virtually no fossil ancestors of these great apes known in Africa. (BBC)