But doubts about whether Sahelanthropus was bipedal have only grown with the release of a new report suggesting the creature's femur shows it walked on all fours, like an ape.
That makes Toumai more than twice as old as humanity's oldest known ancestor, 'Lucy,' discovered in Ethiopia in 1974 and dating to about 3.2 million years ago. .A left femur and two forearm bones were also discovered, but for some reason Brunet never published anything on them and few other researchers had access to the bones.Aude Bergeret-Medina, a researcher at Poitiers, identified an unlabeled bone as Tumai's femur and said it's more typical of an ape.Macchiarelli claims Brunet blocked access to the actual femur because it would discredit the theory Toumai walked on two legs.
Macchiarelli claims Brunet and his colleagues have blocked access to the femur and had his presentation blackballed because it discredits their theory that Toumai walked on two feet'No one can say scientifically that that femur belongs to Toumai.'