<em>Australopithecus</em> (IMAGE)

American Museum of Natural History

<em>Australopithecus</em>

Caption

New research shows that a strong selection to increase brain size alone played a large role in both brain- and body-size increases throughout human evolution. This phenomenon also may have been solely responsible for the major increase in both traits that occurred during the transition from human ancestors like Australopithecus, a model of which is seen here in the American Museum of Natural History's Hall of Human Origins, to Homo erectus.

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© AMNH/R. Mickens

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