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ARDI AND her troop lived 4.4 million years ago in an open woodland setting near a lake or a river and with patches of forest close by. This would have offered a plentiful supply of different food types for an omnivore like Ardi, who moved about as comfortably in the trees as on the ground.

The research effort around Ardi included extensive work to find and identify what her local habitat was like and what other animals, birds and insects might have lived there with her. This was not open savannah, a topography long used as a reason why our ancient ancestors began to walk upright as a way to reach food supplies and water.