Google Doodle Honors Ape Ancestor 'Lucy'

google doodle of lucy and human evolution — Google used one of its famous "doodles" to honor the 41st anniversary of the discovery of Lucy, a 3.2-million-year-old hominin whose fossil remains were uncovered in Ethiopia in 1974. (Image credit: Google)

Happy 41st birthday, Lucy! Well, 41 give or take 3.2 million.

Today's Google doodle honors "Lucy," the famous Australopithecus skeleton that was discovered 41 years ago today, with a progression from ancient crawling ape to upright Homo sapiens.

Soon they had unearthed hundreds of bones and bone fragments, representing about 40 percent of a single hominin skeleton. At the time, Lucy was the most complete ancient hominin fossil ever unearthed. It turned out the fossil belonged to a new species, Australopithecus afarensis, who lived about 3.2 million years ago.

Lucy actually got her name from the Beatles song "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds," which played on a continuous loop in the camp during excavations.

From her long arms to her small brain, Lucy has revealed many insights about early human ancestors. Lucy and her ilk likely used their arms to swing from the trees and used their upward-pointed shoulder sockets to climb, but they also had lower limbs and hips suited to upright walking, a 2012 study published in the journal Science found.

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Tia is the editor-in-chief (premium) and was formerly managing editor and senior writer for Live Science. Her work has appeared in Scientific American, Wired.com, Science News and other outlets. She holds a master's degree in bioengineering from the University of Washington, a graduate certificate in science writing from UC Santa Cruz and a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Texas at Austin. Tia was part of a team at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that published the Empty Cradles series on preterm births, which won multiple awards, including the 2012 Casey Medal for Meritorious Journalism.