The Evolution Of Bipedalism

The increasing aridity of the Australian continent over the past 20 million years has favoured organisms that could adapt to dry conditions. Marsupials have developed a variety of behavioural, physiological and morphological adaptations to survive in these arid conditions with little or no food and free water for extended periods of time.

What makes a primate a primate? A primate is defined by its many incredible features. A primate is a mammal that has certain characteristics such as: flexible fingers and toes, opposable thumbs, flatter face than other mammals, eyes that face forward and spaced close together, large and complex cerebrum, and social animals. What makes a primate a primate is its characteristics. Some of the physical features primates are identified by is their teeth, snouts, eyes, ears, arms, legs, fingers, and toes. Human evolution is a big part of humans being primates, and having similar features and characteristics make humans to be considered to be a primate, but both humans and non-humans have differences.

For many animals, the ability to move is essential for survival. Animals move for a variety of reasons such as: to find food, a mate, a habitat to live in, or to escape predators. It is important for animals to develop new abilities and traits to accomplish these necessities of living. Natural selection has shaped the locomotion methods and mechanisms used by moving organisms for millions of years. Generally, non-human primates are studied to garner an understanding of evolution caused by natural selection because of the many distinctive adaptations that have occurred within their taxonomic order. To understand the origin of locomotion that exist amongst primates, the two categories of primates must be analyzed to recognize morphological trait differences. Then, three major determinants can be evaluated to describe the variety of locomotor patterns primates display: the ecological niches in which the primate originates, the current inhabited niches, and the major key aspects of survival such as

Primates first evolved from the trees of tropical forests, later to the ground. Through the times of promisians to human, many characteristics has been represented due to the adaptations to new environments and resulted in evolutionary changes. The Earth has encountered several geological and climatic changes over time. For the primates existed at that time had to adjust itself especially in body configurations and locomotion in order to better survive. It is important to be aware of this information since we are the part of occurring changes as well. Throughout the evolution owing to

The Musky Rat Kangaroo have similar adaptions to sheep and goats. They have a large fore-stomach where with the use of particular bacteria and fungi they break down the plant fibre in a fermentative chamber.

Introduction This first lecture is designed to introduce the primate order in terms of its classification and to familiarise you with the animals so that the rest of the course makes some sort of sense. I will cover a working definition of what makes a primate, give you a general classification scheme, describe the major features that identify the groups within the classification and discuss some of the controversial areas of the classification. I shall treat the taxonomy as a synonym for classification which seems to be its commonest current usage, although you should be aware that some people consider taxonomy to be more about the principles behind the classification than the classification itself.

There is a circumstance that has beset the understanding of evolution over time that there is no general theory involving primate evolution. Most of the theories are just mere speculation. Over the years, primates like gorillas, chimpanzees, and baboons all happened to have their turn in evolution. It was previously presumed that the taxon of interest happened to have the exact similar physiology and ecology as the analog taxon (Rafferty, 2010).The majority of the first primate species theories have been utilized because they solely share one fundamental characteristic with the hominines with the chimpanzees as the phylogenetic cousins. This paper addresses the different ecological conditions that handled the evolution of primates. It

Each and every primate’s exhibit changes for climbing trees and shrubs and has evolved into two major groups: Prosimians and also Anthropoids.

One of the most fiercely debated issues in paleoanthropology points at the origins the primate species. The top two continents that have been very evident in our origins that can be traced to Africa and (Eur)Asia. African origin stresses the multiregional continuity theory it suggests a single origin for modern humans and gives an explanation to the Out-of-Africa model for the patter of our human evolution.

New research conducted by Canadian experts at the University of Lethbridge suggests that new behavioral trends are manifesting among primates, which has interesting implications about how the behavior of all animals undergoes its own sort of evolution, including that of human beings. The study shows apparent sex acts on the parts of female, Japanese macaques on sika deer. These acts of interspecies relations were observed in Minoh, Osaka—a city in central Japan. As uncommony documented as interspecies relations can be, they are a known phenomenon, and it’s been observed as early as the Holocene epoch or even the Pliocene epoch by way of the extinct mammoth.

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.

The discovery of “Ardi” in the Afar desert of Northeastern Ethiopia provides an excellence source to investigate the lifestyle of Ardipithecus ramidus. During the discovery of colloquially known as “Ardi” another 110 fossils were found belonging to Ardipithecus ramidus a 4.4 million year old species further exploring the lifestyle of this species (White et al., 2009a). The lifestyle features of the Ardipithecus ramidus are its locomotion, environment it likely lived in and it’s diet. The locomotion of Ardipithecus ramidus looks at the likelihood of bipedalism or what the alternative methods for movement could be. It uses evidence from the feet and forelimbs discovered in the fossil specimens. The environment is identifying the discussion

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

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

They were full bipedal and their brain size and brain patterns evolved by increasing (590-687 cc). Their diet was mainly meat which might have an influence on their rapid growth of their brains. (Tobias 1987).