Study shows changes in anatomy would have made walking easier without reducing muscles for climbing in early hominins
April 3, 2018 by Bob Yirka, Phys.org report
An international team of researchers has found evidence that suggests evolutionary changes in anatomy would have made walking more economical without reducing utility of muscles for climbing in early hominins. In their paper published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the group describes studying bones and fossils from human ancestors and how they fit together to determine their walking and climbing abilities.
How and when early human ancestors first began walking upright remains a topic of debate among scientists, and research continues to find the answer. In this new effort, the researchers took another look at conventional ideas suggesting that the first hominins to walk upright likely did so extremely awkwardly, as they retained physical features that would allow them to escape enemies by climbing trees. The researchers suggested that if that were the case, those early hominins would not have survived.
Read more at:
https://phys.org/news/2018-04-anatomy-easier-muscles-climbing-early.html#jCp
