African wild ass (Equus)" which diverged ~4.8 (3.2–6.5) million years ago. Different authors consider the African wild ass and the domesticated donkey one or two species; either view is technically legitimate, though the former is phylogenetically more accurate. The species name for the African wild ass is sometimes given as "asinus", from the domestic donkey, whose specific name is older and usually would have priority. But this usage is erroneous since the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature has conserved the name "Equus africanus" in Opinion 2027. This was done to prevent the confusing situation of the phylogenetic ancestor being taxonomically included in its
Australopithecus africanus of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa, became interested in fossils found at a limestone quarry at Taung near Kimberley, South Africa in 1924. The most promising of these was a skull of an odd ape-like creature presenting human traits at the eye orbits, teeth, and, most importantly, the hole at the base of the skull over the spinal column (the foramen magnum); its placement indicated a human-like upright posture and implied a high probability that this hominid-to-hominin primate had achieved bipedal, as opposed to quadrupedal locomotion. Dart assigned the specimen the name "Australopithecus africanus" ("southern ape of Africa"); it