Exactly, it looks like an ape and yet it walks upright. Below is a forensic facial reconstruction.
"Compared to the modern and extinct great ape,
A. afarensis has reduced canines and molars, although they are still relatively larger than in modern humans" (Wikipedia: A. afarensis). The point is this species has a mix of ape and human features throughout its skeleton, though its skull is about the size of a chimp.
Darwin and other early evolutionists expected our hominid ancestors would develop more human-like brain capacity first and upright gait later, but the reverse has proven true. Lucy and her kin looked essentially ape-like in the skull but appear adapted for walking on two legs. A number of features point to this in the skeleton but in addition to these the feet have lost their adaption for life in the trees. The big toe of apes and other primates (except humans) is described as abductable, that is it is adapted for grasping.
A. afarensis had lost that ability, though its toes and finger bones remained curved.
Creationists continue to argue that Lucy and her kin were only another kind of ape and not bipedal. Accepting that they were bipedal would mean that these are transitional fossils, which creationists continue to insist don't exist.
Oh, wait for a major announcement coming out early in 2015. A large number of complete, or nearly so, hominid remains were found by cavers last year in South Africa. A team of 60 researchers was put together to recover them, and what they found is said to have stunned everyone. The excavation is on going, but a big announcement is expected in just a few months. Should be exciting, whatever it is.
