ABSTRACT
Primate models can be applied to hominin evolution beyond the Last Common Ancestor (LCA). This chapter focuses on the australopiths, a convenient informal term for species that are assigned to the genus Australopithecus. The descriptions of primate behavior are arranged under four headings: ecology, sociality, life cycle, and cognition. The chapter considers primate models for the australopiths and then attempts a reconstruction of australopith behavior. Most of these models are based on ecological analogies, but capability and trait models are also pertinent. Fossil and archeological remains combined with behavioral ecology provide information that allows for the application of primate models. They have generated numerous hypotheses about the origin of bipedalism, while offering more tightly focused suggestions on how early hominins might have adapted to environmental conditions. Beyond the probability of a fission-fusion system, social inferences are more tentative. Common baboons are among the few primates that occupy the same variety of environments as chimpanzees and early hominins.
