THE remains of at least nine ape-like creatures of a species that was one of humanity’s oldest known ancestors have been discovered in Ethiopia, shedding important light on the first chapters of human evolution.

The new fossils belong to a hominid species known as Ardipithecus ramidus that lived 4.5 million years ago, of which only a handful of examples have been identified previously.

The find, by a team led by Sileshi Semaw, of Indiana University in the United States, promises to transform scientists’ understanding of the evolution of primitive, chimp-like early hominids into more recognisably human creatures.

Ardipithecus ramidus, which was first identified in Ethiopia 11 years ago, is widely thought to belong to the first hominid genus — making it among the earliest human ancestors after Man’s family tree split from the chimpanzees. It would have looked more like a chimpanzee than a modern human, but has several characteristics that marks it out as a member of the evolutionary lineage that led ultimately to Homo sapiens.

The creature’s remains show clearly that it walked on two legs, rather than crouching on all fours like a modern ape, and it has diamond-shaped upper canine teeth that are more reminiscent of a human being’s than the V-shaped canines of chimps.

Analysis of the new fossils, details of which are published today in the journal Nature, has already provided scientists with fresh insights into Ardipithecus’s habitat and way of life.

Other finds at the site where the specimens were unearthed show that it lived alongside animals, including antelopes, rhinoceroses, monkeys, giraffes and hippopotamuses.

The region of northern Ethiopia was significantly wetter than it is today and Ardipithecus would have lived in a mixed environment of forest and grassland. Scientists are continuing to investigate which habitat the ancient hominids preferred.

“A few windows are now opening in Africa to glance into the fossil evidence on the earliest hominids,” Dr Semaw said. “We now have more than thirty fossils from at least nine individuals dated between 4.3 million and 4.5 million years old.”

The fossils were found in a site known as the Gona Study Area, which previously has yielded some of the most remarkable finds in human prehistory. It is one of only two sites to have yielded examples of Ardipithecus ramidus — the other is in Kenya — and later finds there show that hominids were making tools as long as 2.5 million years ago.

Hominids are generally thought to have diverged from chimpanzees between six million and seven million years ago, and a primitive form of Ardipithecus ramidus, called Ardipithecus ramidus kabbada, has a claim to be the earliest known human ancestor, living about 5.8 million years ago.

The new fossils consist of more than 30 fragments of bones and teeth, including parts of one upper and two lower jaw bones with teeth still intact.

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