Orrorin tugenensis is considered to be the second-oldest (after Sahelanthropus) known hominin ancestor that is possibly related to modern human

Human

Humans are the only living species in the Homo genus...

s, and it is the only species classified in genus Orrorin. Orrorin is significant because it can be an early bipedal hominin.
The name was given by the discoverers who found Orrorin fossil

Fossil

Fossils are the preserved remains or traces of animals , plants, and other organisms from the remote past...

s in the Tugen Hills

Tugen Hills

The Tugen Hills are series of hills in Baringo District, Kenya.The Tugen Hills represent one of the few areas in Africa preserving a succession of deposits from the period of between 14 and 4 million years ago, making them an important location for the study of human evolution...

 of Kenya

Kenya

Kenya , officially known as the Republic of Kenya, is a country in East Africa that lies on the equator, with the Indian Ocean to its south-east...

 in 2000.
By analysing radiometric

Radiometric dating

Radiometric dating is a technique used to date materials such as rocks, usually based on a comparison between the observed abundance of a naturally occurring radioactive isotope and its decay products, using known decay rates...

 decay (K–Ar dating), paleomagnetism

Paleomagnetism

Paleomagnetism is the study of the record of the Earth's magnetic field in rocks. Certain minerals in rocks lock-in a record of the direction and intensity of the magnetic field when they form. This record provides information on the past behavior of Earth's magnetic field and the past location of...

, and biochronology

Biochronology

Biochronology is the dating of biological events using biostratigraphic or palaeontological methods.-External links:* * *...

 the age of the specimen have been estimated to (average: ).