Human Evolutionary Traits and Behjaviours: Bipedalism Essay

What evidence shows the changing from the early hominids to the modern humans? Throughout the human evolution body parts like legs and harms have changed for the better. By the early hominids being biped, meaning they are able to stand and even walk on two feet, it helped them to be able to do more things like getting around more and help with their tool making and hunting. A lot of the fossils discovered were found in the Great Rift Valley in East Africa, which contained many different lakes and small rivers. For many years researchers have been finding new species. These species have been named Australopithicus, robust australopithecines , Orrorin tugenensis, Homo habilis, Homo erectus, neanderthal, and Homo sapiens. These early

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 earliest humans were tree dwellers and occasionally walked on the ground. Around 6 million years ago our ancestors started walking on two legs. They developed an angled thigh bone to support the weight of their bodies when they stand upright. This lead to a strengthened knee to deal with the stress from walking

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

Bipedalism was the first evolutionary change to define the hominid lineage. It was a major evolutionary change that changed the way we move. Bipedalism is the condition of using two feet for standing and walking. Before bipedalism emerged we were walking on all fours just as many animals do presently. Bipedal locomotion dates back to 7 million years ago with one of the candidates which is Sahelanthropus tchadensis. The other two candidates for the earliest bipedal hominid are Orrorin tugenesis, and Genus Ardipithecus. This evolutionary change brings about several benefits such as being better adapted to live on savannas, having freed hands, more efficient for travel, and better regulation of body temperature. However, similar to many evolutionary changes, Bipedalism comes with “costs” or disadvantages. These disadvantages include our loss of speed, and more stress on lower body joints including the spine.

Bipedalism is one of the big six events that happened in the evolution of humans becoming what we are today. Bipedalism means standing, walking on two feet rather than walking on four feet like the other apes our primate family tree. To understand why humans walk using bipedalism anthropologist must look into the past. One of the most significant fossil evidence of bipedalism is a fossil named “Lucy”. Lucy was found in East Africa. She is an adult female that stood at about three and a half feet. Lucy is a significant find because she was the most complete fossil. Forty percent of her body was found, making her the most complete fossil for bipedalism. It is accepted that there is a close relation to the environment for the reason to why there

Chapter Three of the World textbook reiterated information stated in “The Importance of Being Upright. After reading both texts, I understand the significances that bipedalism and the factors that contributed to it have on our evolutionary track. The book reading engaged me in topics the article had not. Additionally, the chapter explained in further details the points that had been previously introduced in the article.

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

Bipeds have adapted various associated morphological qualities that understand challenges postured by frequent bipedalism. These anatomical traits developed over a huge number of years and contrasts exist amongst prior and later Australopithecus, Paranthropus, and Homo species. Australopithecine and paranthropine development speaks to an outstanding stride in the advancement of people on the grounds that these species are among the soonest hominins known to have evolved.

One of the most intriguing aspects surrounding this topic is the multiple different hypotheses for the evolution from quadrupedal gait to bipedal locomotion. Due to the fact that evidence suggests that the emergence of bipedalism occurred as early as 6 millions years ago, there have been many hyptotheses as to how the earliest hominids

Theoretically, the transform from quadrupedalism to bipedalism must base on a genetic mutation that changes the phenotype of human ancestor by free their forelimbs. Even though, the exact inducer that caused this mutation is still undefined, however, scientists have put forward some hypotheses to try to explain it (Sotou 2012).

ramidus is native to Ethiopia, dated 4.4-5.8 million years ago. Two contrasting hypotheses may offer some insight as to why A. ramidus is thought to be bipedal but still considered arboreal . One, the savanna hypothesis, conjures the idea that “...the rise of African dry savanna…” (Potts, 1998, 107:93-136) sparked the evolutionary transition to bipedalism and tool-making within some hominins. The other theory, the woodland/forest hypothesis, suggests “...Pliocene hominins had evolved in and were primarily attracted to closed habitats” (Potts, 1998, 107:93-136), such as the forest habitat of A. ramidus. Both may be applicable to A. ramidus, considering her lower-half could support the savanna hypothesis, while her upper-half supports the woodland/forest hypothesis.

Based on comparative anatomy, fossils and genetic evidence it is suggested that the lineage between Hominins and African Apes split 6-8 million years ago in East Africa (REF). Due to inconclusive evidence there is some debate to when hominins had bipedalism as their primary mode of locomotion (ref). One of the main adaptions to bipedalism is seen in the positioning of the foramen magnum (ref). In hominins it is situated underneath the cranium, allowing upright walking, whereas it is positioned at the back of the cranium in quadrupeds (ref). The next adaptation to bipedalism involved the spine, which is crucial to our balance when walking upright. Our spine has a curve allowing us to transmit the weight of the upper body to the hips in an upright

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

In the first part of PBS’s documentary becoming human it aims to explain how humans became to walk on two feet or being bipedal and why humans are the only ones left. For millions of years there was many humans like creature that roamed the earth until it was just humans. Being bipedal makes humans unique and makes them different from apes. There are many theories on how human ancestors became bipedal and started walking on two feet. One of the theories is that human ancestors stood up to see over tall grass. Another theory is that they stood to grab fruit from low branches off the trees. Also that they stood up so they can cool off better so that they don’t so much sun on their bodies. The best theory or hypothesis is that standing up cost