Sediba Child named Karabo

The juvenile hominid skeleton (Australopithecus sediba)has been given a new name: Karabo. Karabo means ?answer? in Setswana. The name was submitted by 17-year-old Omphemetse Keepile, a student at St. Mary?s School in Waverly, Johannesburg.

Keepile says that she came up with the name ?Karabo? because ?it suggests that answers are present [and] that more answers will follow?. In her submission, the Johannesburg student explained that the fossil represents a ?solution? to understanding the origins of humankind. ?It has helped researchers to seek much deeper into the information that they have and the information that they will acquire through this discovery. It has enabled them to broaden their former understanding of the concept of humankind.?

Keepile was announced as the competition winner at just after 20:00 on Monday, 31 May 2010 at the 7^th annual Standard Bank PAST Palaeontology public lecture, delivered by Prof. Berger in the Wits Great Hall.

Keepile?s winning entry was selected from over 15 000 submissions in a naming competition sponsored by Standard Bank and PAST in association with Wits University and the Department of Science and Technology. Keepile will receive R75 000 from Standard Bank towards her education, and her school will receive R25 000 as well as a replica model of the Karabo fossil.