[BadAndy]

"It challenges the whole idea of what it is that makes us human."

No, it doesn't. From the info in the story it is probably an ape. How does discovering a new type of monkey challenge what makes us human? Because it was short? Ever hear of pygmys?

[MineralMan]

Not so fast. Here is a photo of the skull this new find, alongside a modern human skull. I've also posted a photo of a chimpanzee skull. Even a grade school kid can see that this small person is a hominid:

[Kirkwood]

My father has pictures of him standing with pygmies he met while fighting in the South Pacific in WWII. He was in New Guinea for some of that time and other islands in the area. I'm guessing from the pictures I've seen that they were around 3 to 4 feet tall, but could have included different ages, not just adults.