Have you ever wondered how we primates came to walk on 2 legs?
Anthropologists are among the people that can answer
this controversial question on Human evolution.
Primates such as chimps, are not our ancestors
but they do share an ancestor in common with us,Australopithecus Afarensis,
that lived six million years ago.
Primates have a few things in common, and many differences most notably those involving our skulls. Our face is pretty flat while chimp's stick far out. The biggest difference between Australopithecus Afarensis "Lucy", us and Chimps is the Foramen magnum, the hole at the back of the skull that the spinal cord fits into. Our Foramen magnum is at the bottom of our skull at the back, and our spinal cord fits in horizontally, if we are standing up it would obviously be vertical. This is what allows us to walk on two feet. Similarly the Foramen Magnum of "Lucy" is also placed at the bottom of the skull and the spinal cord is horizontal. This similarity is evidence that "Lucy" walked bipedally like us. In contrast, the chimp's Foramen Magnum is "Angled backwards and downwards," suggesting that they walked on all fours.
The fact that bipedal creatures with roughly bigger brains than chimpanzees walked the earth only 2 million years ago, that were before humans ever evolved shocked scientist all over the world.
Many theories proposed why creatures preferred to walk biped ally. One argues that it is to free their hands to create stone tools. Interestingly stone tools only appeared in the fossil record after the creation of bipedal walking. C.Owen Lovejoy a scientist at Kent State University believes that we started walking bipedally so that our hands are free to get food for the other members of the group. Thus making a parent of young to give more attention to her children. I think this is a very reasonable theory but sadly scientist don't, they have rejected his theory because they believe that there is no specific evidence. Another belief is that we started walking bipedally to cross and swim streams or even seas.
Anthropologists are among the people that can answer
this controversial question on Human evolution.
Primates such as chimps, are not our ancestors
but they do share an ancestor in common with us,Australopithecus Afarensis,
that lived six million years ago.
Primates have a few things in common, and many differences most notably those involving our skulls. Our face is pretty flat while chimp's stick far out. The biggest difference between Australopithecus Afarensis "Lucy", us and Chimps is the Foramen magnum, the hole at the back of the skull that the spinal cord fits into. Our Foramen magnum is at the bottom of our skull at the back, and our spinal cord fits in horizontally, if we are standing up it would obviously be vertical. This is what allows us to walk on two feet. Similarly the Foramen Magnum of "Lucy" is also placed at the bottom of the skull and the spinal cord is horizontal. This similarity is evidence that "Lucy" walked bipedally like us. In contrast, the chimp's Foramen Magnum is "Angled backwards and downwards," suggesting that they walked on all fours.
Many theories proposed why creatures preferred to walk biped ally. One argues that it is to free their hands to create stone tools. Interestingly stone tools only appeared in the fossil record after the creation of bipedal walking. C.Owen Lovejoy a scientist at Kent State University believes that we started walking bipedally so that our hands are free to get food for the other members of the group. Thus making a parent of young to give more attention to her children. I think this is a very reasonable theory but sadly scientist don't, they have rejected his theory because they believe that there is no specific evidence. Another belief is that we started walking bipedally to cross and swim streams or even seas.
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