Lucy (Australopithecus afarensis) lived 3.2 million years ago in Ethiopia although she wasn't the first hominid, a recent fossil of Ardi (Ardipithecus Ramidus) pushes hominid evolution back to 4.4 million years ago. Probaby due to climate change they walked on two feet, which took courage. Being bipedal in an environment where the ancestors of lions, leopards, cheetahs, and hyenas where looking for their next meal was a tremendous risk, but Lucy, Ardi, and our hominid ancestors took those steps, which lead to higher development and evolution of the hominid brain, which eventually gave us an advantage on the East African plains. I often wonder if the first hominids did not get out of the tree and stand on their two feet, there probably would not be Homo Sapiens, but a band of primates did, survived long enough to allow evolution to do its work and now their distant offspring is writing about it. I love Lucy because her kind made the steps that eventually lead to humanity. Think about it... We are all Africans..
