While fossils of different early human species are sometimes found at the same sites, it has been hard for paleoanthropologists to show that they actually co-occurred in "ecological time" - in the same environments at the same time.  A unique discovery of fossil footprints along an ancient lake margin in northern Kenya offers the first direct evidence of two different species, Homo erectus and Paranthropus boisei, walking on the same lakeshore about 1.5 million years ago.  

Kay Behrensmeyer, Curator of Paleobiology at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History and one of the lead scientists working on these footprints, presented this recent discovery. 

Moderator: Briana Pobiner, paleoanthropologist and educator at Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History.

This Zoom webinar with Kay Behrensmeyer aired live on March 26th 2025 as part of the ongoing "HOT (Human Origins Today) Topic" series.