The human ancestor fossil known as Lucy has left Ethiopia for display in a European museum. Lucy’s skeleton, which is 40% complete, left Ethiopia on Thursday and will be displayed at the Czech National Museum in Prague for approximately two months. It is only the second time her remains have left Ethiopia since they were discovered in 1974. Some archaeologists have raised concerns about the safety of her bones during transportation, but experts say they have been carefully packed.  Lucy was a member of Australopithecus afarensis, an early human species that lived in Africa between about 4 million and 3 million years ago.

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FILE - The framed hominid fossil "Lucy," is seen at a exhibition at the Ethiopian Natural History Museum in the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa, Tuesday, Oct. 24, 2006. (AP Photo/Les Neuhaus, file)

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In this photo provided by Museums Victoria Ruairidh Duncan, left, and Erich Fitzgerald examine a partial fossil skull in the palaeontology lab at Melbourne Museum in Melbourne, Australia, Aug. 5, 2025. (Tom Breakwell/Museums Victoria via AP)

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In this photo provided by Museums Victoria Ruairidh Duncan examines a tooth and partial fossil skull, at left, in the palaeontology lab at Melbourne Museum in Melbourne, Australia, Aug. 5, 2025. (Tom Breakwell/Museums Victoria via AP)