Early Human Ancestor Had Small Teeth

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A 6 million-year-old creature that lacked sharp canines for fighting may be the first pre-human to have branched off from the ape line, researchers said on Thursday.

The short, small-brained creature may provide a good hint of what the common ancestor of chimpanzees and humans looked like, the researchers said.

Fossil remains of the early hominid were found in Ethiopia three years ago, and it seemed to be a subspecies of a known pre-human, Ardipithecus ramidus.

But the scientists have found more teeth from a group of the hominid, re-classified it as a distinct species and named it Ardipithecus kadabba.