Paranthropus boisei

Hominins belonging to the species Homo erectus and Paranthropus boisei, the two most common living human species of the Pleistocene Epoch, made the tracks, the researchers said.

Paranthropus boisei, however, went extinct within the next few hundred thousand years.

But these remarkably preserved footprints were the first to indicate that two different species of hominins — including Homo erectus, which is a direct ancestor to humans, and Paranthropus boisei, which was a different species that also descended from the ape ancestor but died off around 1 million years ago.

“If Homo erectus ate considerably more animal foods than Paranthropus boisei, that alone would guarantee rather different niches,” Sponheimer told Salon in a phone interview.

“That our fossil ancestors and close kin needed water in itself is not shocking … But one of the best ways to get sufficient calories given Paranthropus boisei’s chewing anatomy would be to eat plants near water,” Sponheimer said.