For 1.5 million years old, he's in good shape

"Turkana Boy," an exquisitely preserved 1.5-million-year-old human ancestor found in Kenya, may not have had dwarfism or scoliosis, new research suggests.

Past studies had suggested that the ancient human ancestor, a Homo erectus, had suffered from a congenital bone disorder that made him unrepresentative of his species.

"Until now, the Turkana Boy was always thought to be pathological," said study co-author Martin Häusler, a physician and physical anthropologist at the University of Zurich. "The spine was somewhat weird, and so he couldn't be used as a comparative model for Homo erectus biology because he was so pathological."

But the new analysis, published in the March issue of the American Journal of Physical Anthropology, suggests that apart from a herniated disc in his back, Turkana Boy was a fairly healthy person with no genetic bone problems. [...] MSNBC.com

Actualización 25-03-13. El "Niño de Turkana" no padecía ninguna enfermedad ósea
Estudios anteriores habían sugerido que este antiguo ancestro humano, un Homo erectus/Homo ergaster, había sufrido una enfermedad ósea congénita que le hacía poco representativo de su especie...