Scientists warn that hominid 'Lucy' is too fragile for six-year US tour

Palaeontologists in Ethiopia and in the United States were expressing alarm yesterday following confirmation that the fossilised bones of the world's famous hominid, "Lucy", were on their way from Addis Ababa to a museum in Texas for a six-year tour of American cities.

The remains are thought to be between three and four million years old and are considered the most important link ever discovered between modern man and its antecedents. They were discovered in the remote Afar region of Ethiopia by the US scientist Donald Johanson in 1974. Since then they have remained in secure storage in the Natural History Museum in Addis Ababa.

Now there is concern that transporting the fossils for a 10-city tourrepresents an intolerable risk to their integrity. The Ethiopian government defends the tour as a necessary tool to increase tourism.

But the Ethiopian palaeo-ntologist Zeray Alemseged said: "A fossil like Lucy is so rare and so fragile that it should only be moved... if there is a compelling reason that would benefit the nation in a unique way,"

The Smithsonian Institution said: "The fossil Lucy, one of the most important specimens of its kind, is too fragile to go on public tour."