Human Bipedalism

The infamous event of the Piltdown hoax is one that continues to draw speculative attention over a century after the initial announcement of the paleoanthropological findings. Although many scientists, especially those involved in the field of paleoanthropology, would like to forget the incident entirely, the Piltdown man—taxonomically referred to as Eoanthropus dawsoni—is perhaps the greatest hoax in anthropological history. By 1912, British archaeologists and paleontologists were desperate for a significant paleoanthropological finding that would provide the missing link between humans and apes in hominin evolution (Prosser, 2009). The Piltdown man was originally a famous finding that straddled the human-animal boundary, dichotomously

We share almost 99 percent of our genetic material with chimpanzees. Yet we have several traits that are very different. Two legged walking, or bipedalism seems to be one of the earliest of the major hominine characteristics to have evolved. To

The Australopithecine are some of the earliest known hominids and they embody many characteristics that are associated with bipedalism. Bipedalism is a highly specialized and unusual form of primate locomotion that sets modern humans apart from all other living primates as we are the only extant obligate bipeds. Many evolutionary biologists and paleoanthropologists have devoted innumerable research hours to attempting to understand this unique form of locomotion and how it evolved. A number of interdependent morphological adaptations occurred over a long period of time to solve challenges posed by habitual bipedalism. As a result, there are obvious differences that exist between early and late hominin species.

In the article “Born to Run” by Adam Summers, who is an assistant professor of bioengineering and ecology and evolutionary biology at the University of California, Irvine, the author states that throughout time bipedalism has evolved to benefit endurance running. Summers also claims that bipedalism modern humans have differs from the one our early ancestors had. The author relies on the research by Dennis M. Bramble and Daniel E. Lieberman that have improved the understanding of human bipedalism and its evolution. According to Summers, the corrections made by Bramble and Lieberman’s research helped to draw a more accurate picture of an early human.

The first behavior, locomotion, is well known for hominins because of the evolution to bipedalism. Bipedal locomotion allows for the carrying of objects, provisioning family, and efficiency of energy, among many other reasons. Not all primates are bipedal. Chimpanzees can walk both bipedally and quadrupedally. They have been a common point of reference for a better understanding of the evolution of bipedal locomotion in early ape-like hominins. Many studies have looked into the evolution of walking quadrupedally to bipedally. These bipedal performances of contemporary non-human primates have given important context that can help in reconstructing early hominin bipedalism. Many anthropologists claim that biomechanical models link locomotor performance to anatomy and have the potential to reveal robust form function relationships, however, this is only given to the extent that locomotor performance of chimpanzees and other species are shown to fit

The most fascinating facet of obligate bipedalism in certain species as paralleled to species that only participate in bipedalism for small amounts of time, is the bone structure that allows for bipedalism, or either allows for walking on four limbs. Such as with our own pets, as stated in textbook Biological Anthropology, written by Craig Standford, the common dog will often stand on its own two legs, exhibiting bipedalism, but this bipedalism is only facultative, as the dog will abruptly drop back onto four legs after loosing equilibrium. This is due to the variances in the vertebral column of obligate and facultative bipeds. Obligate bipeds, being humans, have exclusively different molded vertebrae that permit for the center gravity

Another explanation of bipedalism is that walking upright reduce the energy consumption. Michael Sokol, a professor from University of California, Davis, David Raichlen, a professor from University of Arizona, Tucson, and Herman Pontzer, a professor from Washington University, St. Louis, conduct an experiment that examines the energy consumption level for both humans and adult chimpanzees. Their studies suggest that “early transitional forms would have reaped some energy savings with minor increases in hip extension and leg length.” According the research, they also conclude that energetics is an important factor in the evolution of bipedalism and the improved efficiency of locomotion “ may accrued very early within the hominin lineage.”

Bipedalism is being able to walk on two feet. Bipedalism separated the hominids from the four legged apes. It has allowed us to travel far distances, distances that four legged species couldn’t even travel.Hominids had a much better advantage when it came to traveling on rocky and grassy terrains. Also, walking upright made fleeing from predators much easier, because on four legs an animal is most likely to die. There were also drawbacks to for instance a female hominids pelvis is narrow, so delivering a baby would be very painful and life threatening to both child and mother. Other than the advantages and disadvantages of bipedalism, these are the key things that

Approximately 4 million years ago a wonderful evolutionary phenomenon was happening in Africa. Early hominids, man’s ancestors, were beginning a giant leap in their evolution. These hominids were moving out of the forest and beginning to walk upright, out on the open plains (Fagan, 98). This change from quadrupedalism was the most significant adaptation that ever happened to these early hominids. It caused many adaptations that make man what he is today. This process occurred in early hominids for many different reasons, each reason helping to perfect the upright walking posture. Bipedalism is thought to have occurred because of changes in environment, feeding habits, thermal regulation, and

During the early 19th century, scientists, archeologist and other scholars, speculated, studied and disagreed about the development of humans and our origins. Some experts theorized that humans are monogenism and developed into various varieties of species. Others argue that we

Bipedalism, a locomotion that consist of the two lower limbs to move. This can be found in many animals, but it is considered more “optional” than “mandatory” as a way to transport. Some use it as a defense mechanism. In humans, it is one of the special characteristics that is used to differentiate the human species from the rest of the Hominidae family. Only humans have “mandatory” bipedalism. Other characteristics include massive brain size and the ability to make and use tools (Lovejoy,1988). It was discussed that because of going from quadrupedal to bipedal it cause many advancements such as brain development. Bipedalism was the biggest evolutionary change for the human ancestors. Nobody really knows the origins of bipedalism, but there are some theories that might explain it. It can be the freeing of hands to use tools or to hold and carry resources or offspring. It can be change of habitat from woodland to plain or use of defense mechanism to look beyond the plains for predators at further distance. It can also be energy efficient and to run longer more easier compare to quadrupedalism. Bipedalism gave many advantages with the change of human body, mainly the skeletal structure, but is it possible that some of these changes have tradeoffs? Some scientists believe that certain illnesses, injuries, and health complication are the results of the change of skeletal structure to become bipedal. There are disadvantages for bipedalism and it can differ between male and

There has been much debate concerning the origins of bipedalism. Bipedalism, or the ability to move on two legs (eLucy, 2007) was said to have emerged due to climate change in East Africa, for sexual display purpose, to reduce exposure to sunlight, the need to use weapons and tools and many more (NOVA, 2013). There are numerous arguments associated with bipedalism as no one can be entirely sure as to what constituted to the emergence of this trait, which was first present in hominins Australopithecus Afarensis. Anthropologists claim that there is a missing link in the evolutionary lineage that makes it hard to confirm the real cause of bipedalism emergence. However, there are some models which are widely accepted by scientific world, such

Human evolution is the gradual process in which people, or Homo sapiens, originated from apelike ancestors. Scientific evidence, particularly in the form of fossils and secondary remains, show that the physical and behavioral traits shared by all people evolved over a period of approximately six million years. Humans are primates. Both genetic and physical similarities show that humans and the great apes (large apes) of Africa, chimpanzees (including bonobos, or so-called “pygmy chimpanzees”) and gorillas share a common ancestor that lived between 8 and 6 million years ago. The volume of fossils found in Africa suggests that most evolution occurred there and is likely the place of origin for early humans. This brings to fruition the “out of Africa” theory, also called the “single-origin hypothesis.”

The theories of human evolution may always cause a heated dispute. Each theory presents its own evidence proving

Human evolution according to research started over 6 million years ago. The outcome of the evolution process is the current human beings. Scientific studies have revealed over the years a remarkable affinity between the chimpanzees/Apes and human beings. Even though this reality is not a definitive prove that human beings evolved from apes, it does show that the human beings are in one way or another related to other primates. Scientists suppose that the humans and the primates shared a common ancestor. The subject of what makes humans what they are and their origin has been the exclusive purpose leading to many scientific studies globally (Coolidge & Wynn, 2011). Studies believe that Africa was the origin of evolution millions of years ago. Fossil remains have been discovered in different parts of Africa as well as other regions of the world. Different hominins have been discovered around the world in the last 1 million years. Thus, the different discoveries have led to comparisons between the various species of hominins to clarify on their similarities as well as differences. This essay seeks to explain whether they were distinctively different species or regional versions of the same species.