Scientists have found a few bones and seven teeth
belonging to a previously unknown species of human.
They've named the new species
Homo luzonensis, after the
island of Luzon in the Philippines where it was found.
The
bones are tiny, suggesting that Homo luzonensis was
under 4 feet tall.
That
would make it the second species of diminutive human to
be found in south-east Asia; in 2007 scientists
announced the discovery of
Homo floresiensis, found on
the island of Flores in Indonesia and nicknamed the
hobbit.
Both
species lived around 50,000 years ago, at a time when
Asia was also home to our species, the
Neanderthals and
a group called the Denisovans.
The
new species raises many questions, including who were
its ancestors and how did it move?
Read the research paper 'A
new species of Homo from the Late Pleistocene of the
Philippines'.
