This handout photo released by the Nature on August 29, 2016 shows University of Texas Austin professors John Kappelman (L) and Richard Ketcham examining casts of Lucy, the iconic 3.18-million-year-old hominin found in present-day Ethiopia, while scanning the original fossil. Lucy, the iconic 3.18-million-year-old hominin found in present-day Ethiopia, died from injuries she sustained having fallen out of a tree, finds a study published in Nature this week. The study, which analyses the fractures on parts of Lucys skeleton, offers unusual evidence for the presence of tree dwelling (arborealism) in the extinct hominin Australopithecus afarensis. John Kappelman and colleagues studied the fossil which includes elements of the skull, hand, axial skeleton, pelvis and foot and computed tomographic scans of the skeleton in order to assess the cause of death. Detailed analysis of the damage to the skeleton and comparison with clinical cases reveals that many of the fractures are likely to have been sustained at the time of death rather than post-mortem, and are probably the result of a fall and impact from considerable height as opposed to fossilization processes. Such a fall is consistent with the location and severity of the fractures observed in multiple skeletal elements, the authors explain. Furthermore, analysis of the fractures in Lucys upper arms suggests that she stretched out her arms in an attempt to break her fall. / AFP PHOTO / NATURE PUBLISHING GROUP / Marsha MILLER / RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE - MANDATORY CREDIT "AFP PHOTO / NATURE / MARSHA MILLER " - NO MARKETING - NO ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS - DISTRIBUTED AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS MARSHA MILLER/AFP/Getty Images