Ardipithecus ramidus

https://www.icr.org/article/did-humans-evolve-from-ard

Ardipithecus ramidus is one of our early relatives that gives us insight as to how humans and chimps diverged from our ancestors. We are able to understand how human got some of our traits due to Ar. ramidus's both ape-like and human-like features.  The article I read focused on the foot of Ar. ramidus and how it shows that our human foot probably did not evolve from one similar to that of modern African apes because Ar. radius's foot turns out to be unlike the feet of the African apes in multiple ways. The partial skeleton of Ar. ramidus preserves most of the foot and includes a special bone called the os peroneum, which is critical for understanding foot evolution. The os peroneum is embedded with a tendon that helps with the primary muscle that draws in the big tow when grasping. African apes modified their foot to be more effective for grasping than leaping and the modifications made it difficult to distinguish their feet from their hands. The foot of Ar. ramidus shows that the ape-like changes were not present in the last common ancestor of African apes and humans. Based on the reconstruction of the foot of Ar. ramidus it lacked many features that evolved for advanced vertical climbing and suspension in extant chimpanzees. The last common ancestor of African apes and humans was thought to have been chimpanzee but the foot of Ar. ramidus shows that it must have had a more monkey-like foot.