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Australopithecus bahrelghazali
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<p><i>Australopithecus bahrelghazali</i> is an <a href="/facts/Extinct/24p5NP2q">extinct</a> <a href="/facts/Species/oDg6b96r">species</a> of <a href="/facts/Australopithecine/25g1CUJG">australopithecine</a> discovered in 1995 at <a href="/facts/Koro_Toro/SChfP81N">Koro Toro</a>, <a href="/facts/Bahr_el_Gazel_(region_of_Chad)/KGYud25U">Bahr el Gazel</a>, Chad, existing around 3.5 million years ago in the <a href="/facts/Pliocene/MjcIVQ86">Pliocene</a>. It is the first and only australopithecine known from <a href="/facts/Central_Africa/ufJ003ex">Central Africa</a>, and demonstrates that this group was widely distributed across Africa as opposed to being restricted to East and southern Africa as previously thought. The validity of <i>A. bahrelghazali</i> has not been widely accepted, in favour of classifying the specimens as <i><a href="/facts/Australopithecus_afarensis/3byc9ImU">A. afarensis</a></i>, a better known Pliocene australopithecine from East Africa, because of the anatomical similarity and the fact that <i>A. bahrelghazali</i> is known only from 3 partial jawbones and an isolated <a href="/facts/Premolar/hSpMTu7a">premolar</a>. The specimens inhabited a lakeside grassland environment with sparse tree cover, possibly similar to the modern <a href="/facts/Okavango_Delta/SllE0Mmc">Okavango Delta</a>, and similarly predominantly ate <a href="/facts/C4_carbon_fixation/2dLTxsae">C4</a> savanna foods—such as grasses, sedges, <a href="/facts/Storage_organ/FTXfMqAt">storage organs</a>, or <a href="/facts/Rhizome/wWDKJrSf">rhizomes</a>—and to a lesser degree also <a href="/facts/C3_carbon_fixation/HdWBsswk">C3</a> forest foods—such as fruits, flowers, pods, or insects. However, the teeth seem ill-equipped to process C4 plants, so its true diet is unclear. </p>