The species, Paranthropus boisei, is known mostly from skull and tooth fossils. Now, researchers working along the eastern side of Kenya’s Lake Turkana have identified 21 footprints made by eight individuals of this species who appear to have been walking together on a mudflat.

They attributed the tracks to this species based on foot shape and gait, and concluded they probably were left by adult males, due to their size.

The footprints provide a glimpse into social dynamics in Paranthropus boisei, including the fact that males sometimes travelled across the landscape in groups, without females or children.

Species in the human evolutionary lineage are called hominins.

“In all, this is another amazing snapshot that gives us insights into how these hominins looked, how they walked and how they engaged with each other and with their environments,” said paleoanthropologist Kevin Hatala of Chatham University in Pittsburgh and the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Germany, lead author of the study published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Footprints slightly older than these, described in a study published in 2024, showed that Paranthropus boisei inhabited this region alongside another hominin, called Homo erectus, that was more closely related to our species — perhaps a direct ancestor.

“Paranthropus boisei is most well known for their extremely robust skulls and very large teeth. From the neck down, we haven’t known a lot about their anatomy,” Hatala said.

The species had a crest atop the skull, like male gorillas, to anchor large chewing muscles, and had molars three times the size of ours. Its diet of tough foods may have included grasses, wetland plants called sedges, nuts and seeds.

Its body dimensions are less well understood. The footprints suggest a height of up to 6 feet (1.83 meters) and weight of around 165 pounds (74.84 kilogrammes), larger than previously estimated and rivalling Homo erectus in size.

“It had long been thought that they were smaller in body size than the contemporary Homo erectus, which is thought to have been very human-like in body size and shape. But perhaps Paranthropus boisei was also able to achieve human-like body sizes despite a cranial anatomy that seems to indicate a very different kind of diet,” Hatala said.

The researchers used volcanic ash in the surrounding rock to date the footprints. Alongside the hominin footprints were tracks of hippos, antelope, wading birds and other animals.

‘A bachelor male group’

The footprints indicate the eight individuals were moving perpendicularly to the shoreline, into and out of slightly deeper water, according to study co-author Kay Behrensmeyer, curator of vertebrate palaeontology at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History in Washington.

“We don’t know what they were actually doing there,” Behrensmeyer said.

Possibilities include acquiring food or water, making a security patrol or just strolling as buddies.

“Another possibility is that this represented a bachelor male group, similar to what we see in primates like gorillas that have a social structure in which one dominant male monopolises mating for themselves and drives other males away from the females. This can leave displaced males to group on their own,” Harvard University evolutionary biologist and study co-author Neil Roach said.

The footprints suggest their social structure allowed for males tolerating other males, at least in certain circumstances, Roach said.

Paranthropus boisei is believed to have died out around 1.2 million years ago, a time of climate change that may have affected food resources, making the species an evolutionary dead end.

Homo erectus and our species Homo sapiens belong to the genus Homo. A genus is a group of closely related species that share similar characteristics. For example, lions and tigers are from the same genus but represent different species.

Paranthropus boisei, which first appeared about 2.3 million years ago, was the last of three species of the genus Paranthropus, dating to about 2.7 million years ago. It is also thought to have been the last hominin species not part of the genus Homo. Our species first appeared about 300,000 years ago.

Competition from Homo erectus cannot be ruled out as a factor in the extinction of Paranthropus boisei. Homo erectus, with smaller teeth and weaker jaws, is thought to have eaten less tough vegetation and more meat, but some food resources may have overlapped.

“For example, maybe both species accessed similar food resources in lake margin environments, but then diverged in terms of the other components of their diets,” Hatala said.

In her televised address, CM Maryam said, “The PPP should have accepted its defeat by affirming the spirit of democracy, but I felt aggrieved by the kind of words used by PPP leaders.”

“The state does not decide election results; only the people make this decision,” she said in response to PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari’s allegations.

She added that when the PPP secured a majority in Gilgit-Baltistan’s elections, the PML-N acknowledged it, congratulated it and offered it the opportunity to form the government.

“Now you are alleging PML-N of rigging; when you won the GB election, there was no rigging there, but as you have lost the AJK election badly, you are now levelling rigging allegations,” CM Maryam said.

The provincial chief executive further said that the PPP should have worked on its performance, built its narrative and presented a programme for the people. “Neither did you have the narrative, nor the performance, nor a programme for the people of AJK or any record of your governance.”

The Punjab chief minister added that the “continuity” the PPP received in Sindh could never be achieved by any other party. “Despite this, you had no project to show from Sindh; you could not tell [people about] your performance and could not give a roadmap of the future to the people of AJK.”

“If you want to get votes, you cannot cry before the people; the people are much more aware these days.”

CM Maryam said that during its election speeches, the PPP leadership kept blaming the federal government; however, it had forgotten that the PPP had been in power in AJK for the past year.

“During the PPP’s tenure, conditions in AJK became worse. You could not control the situation, and now you are crying over rigging,” she alleged.

She advised the PPP to improve its performance in Sindh and work on improving its roads.

“Whoever comes from Sindh to Punjab says that they also want Punjab-like Sindh and Lahore-like Karachi,” she said, advising the PPP to hold itself accountable for why it could not deliver in Sindh.

“How could you build AJK’s roads when the roads in your own province are wrecked?” she questioned.

“During the AJK election campaign, I said that we would make AJK like Punjab; however, after ruling Sindh for 17 years, you could not say that you would turn AJK into Sindh in terms of performance.”

Punjab CM Maryam reminded the PPP that when elections are held in AJK, no interim setup takes charge there. “If you are alleging rigging, why do you forget who was ruling AJK before the elections? The PML-N was not in government there, but the PPP was,” she said.

“For the past year, you have been in power in AJK, but you could neither deliver nor take responsibility for the situation,” she said while criticising the PPP.

CM Maryam further said that the people of AJK wanted progress in their region and chose the PML-N because it had delivered in Punjab.

For the upcoming phases of the AJK elections, she urged the people of the Poonch and Muzaffarabad divisions to vote for the PML-N.

In her address, she congratulated the people of AJK for making the “best choice” by voting for the PML-N. She also congratulated her party for securing an “outstanding victory” in the first phase of the AJK elections.

Ahsan Iqbal terms PPP’s rigging allegations ‘undemocratic’

Addressing a press conference, Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal, flanked by Parliamentary Affairs Minister Tariq Fazal Chaudhry, urged PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari to refrain from making “immature statements”, terming his rigging allegations “undemocratic”.

The minister questioned the PPP’s governance in Sindh, drawing a comparison with the PML-N’s performance in Punjab.

“Everyone faced the same question: whether they wanted to turn AJK into ruins, as PPP did with Karachi, or make it as developed as Lahore,” he remarked.

Labelling the PPP chairman’s accusations “undemocratic”, he said, “Everything was fine yesterday until 6pm; no allegations of rigging surfaced, and nothing was brought to notice, but that changed as soon as the results came in.”

Iqbal recalled that when the PPP won the elections in GB, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif congratulated the party and invited it to form the government.

He said Bilawal’s “immature” statements were “reflective of a undemocratic mindset” and called on the PPP chairman to congratulate the PML-N on its victory rather than level rigging allegations.

More to follow

Fitna al Khawarij is a term the state uses for terrorists belonging to the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan.

At the outset, Hanif said that there had been some illegal and violent activities in AJK aimed at sabotaging the upcoming phases of the AJK elections.

“The fundamental duty of the state is to maintain law and order, continue the democratic process, and fulfil this responsibility. The state is capable of doing so,” he stressed.

The senior official claimed that a significant number of JAAC protesters consisted of members of Fitna Al Khawarij rather then common people.

He also played a video which showed masked gunmen on the roof of a building in the region.

“Common people are fewer in number; however, armed individuals, militants and Fitna Al Khawarij members are present, which falls under the definition of terrorism,” Hanif maintained.

“They have involved innocent people by misleading them. We appeal to the people to distance themselves from them. The government will also make some public announcements in this regard to fulfil its responsibility,” he stated.

The regional information secretary added that anti-state elements were using children and women as human shields.

“Several misleading videos have been circulated on social media, indicating that it is a human rights movement; however, that is not the case.”

Hanif elaborated that state institutions have adequate information regarding the presence of Fitna Al Khawarij elements and members of other militant organisations.

Earlier today, while sharing a video of several people carrying arms in AJK, the region’s Prime Minister Faisal Mumtaz Rathore said, “They planned this for weeks and now they have got what they wanted: the blood of innocent Kashmiris.”

“The rioters not only have sophisticated weapons, they also have the advantage of access to all vantage points from where they take aim at security forces, whose only objective has been to contain the situation and prevent escalation,” Rathore stated.

He added that the march to Muzaffarabad during the elections was a “conniving plan to trigger mass unrest”.

“I appeal to the people to stay away from these agitators who have a proven record of using civilians as human shields and creating a win-win situation for themselves once security personnel act in self-defence,” he said.

More to follow