[BroJoeK]

from the article: "The question now is not whether Australopithecus afarensis, the species to which the famous Lucy belongs, was the only potential human ancestor species that roamed in what is now the Afar region of Ethiopia during the middle Pliocene, but how these species are related to each other and exploited available resources."

marktwain: " 'how these early human ancestors were related and shared resources...'
They cannot even get the science right.
They would not have 'shared resources'.
They would have competed for resources. "

Twice they incorrectly said "shared", but once the quote more accurately says "exploited".

It's important to remember that, these days, the word "species" can mean almost anything.
Consider, for example, Neanderthals -- once thought a separate species or even genus only remotely related to modern humans.
Now we learn from Neanderthal DNA that they were 99% identical to us, and even interbred with modern humans, on occasion.
So they were not a separate genus, they were not even a separate species, they were us.

Today we find remains of various different pre-human "species" living side-by-side in Africa.
How different were they, really?
Could they, did they, interbreed?

Bottom line, we know for sure they were somewhat different from each other.
How different, exactly, is a matter of speculation at this point.

Homo afarensis, homo habilis:

[marktwain]

Certainly true.

The fossil record is very sparse.

[Joe Boucher]

spitting image of Moochelle Obammy.