Walking upright was probably caused by a change in environment leading to a change in behaviour that was followed by a change in bodyplan.
Nicely nonspecific.Walking upright was probably caused by a change in environment leading to a change in behaviour that was followed by a change in bodyplan.
I believe we are the only great apes with long legs and short arms. I am told this is because we walk upright. So why do we walk upright?
That's what I said.The step to upright stance, which was driven by tool use,
That's what I said.
Unless humans caused the deforestation through fire.
so you can run faster...
Prove it. We did it in Australia.Uh, Africa defoliated before humans existed.
Not at all. Being able to run down prey is an important skill. Humans have the advantage here, we have endurance.You've got to be kidding
Prove it.
We did it in Australia.
Not at all. Being able to run down prey is an important skill. Humans have the advantage here, we have endurance.
For a science forum, you guys are all woefully clueless about evolution!! It's ok, I like teaching you to use your noggin!
We (humans) aren't the only great apes that walk upright- within, the past 2 million years, there have been a dozen others.
Humans just happened to outcompete them all to extinction.
Now why didn't other families of apes learn to walk upright?
Look here.
As you can see, only the genus homo resulted in upright walkers, with relativesw. This is a product of environment. Hominidae are the great apes, yet only those who live in Africa, Homininae, became terrestial. Compared to the tropical rainforests of Southeast Asia, Africa doesn't have much to support large arboreal apes. In fact, it can't. That's why there aren't any there.
The current line of thinking is that several million years ago, global climate change turned the jungles of Africa into savannah. This pushed the apes out of the forest and into the savannah- including our Homo ancestorts. They were already running around on their knuckles. The step to upright stance, which was driven by tool use, was a direct product of living an exposed life on the savannah. Groups of ancestral Homos could mob would-be predators, stoning them.
This behavior reinforced itself- groups that could use tools better, survived longer. Better tool use was associated with a more upright stance. Over time, Homos became adapted to life on the plains, while the ones in the forest stayed in the forest. Then Homo sapiens began to outcompete the other upright apes, and drove them all to extinction.
Gorillas and chimps were largely left alone, as they lived in the forest and did not compete with the plain dwelling Homo sapiens.
That works fine for men's dangly bits, not so well showing off the vulva.Or it might have been as simple as, being able to walk is more sexually attractive than not being able to walk.
Or it might have been as simple as, being able to walk is more sexually attractive than not being able to walk.
Great apes are not a genus, they are the family Hominidae. There are four genera within this family: Homo (only one species), Pongo (orangutans, two species), Gorilla (two species) and Pan (chimpanzees, two species). Hominidae and Hylobatidae (gibbons or "lesser apes," 13 species in 4 genera) comprise the superfamily of apes, Hominoidea, within the order of Primates."Great Apes" is not a species, so the two are not mutually exclusive. We can be Great Apes, and ALSO be Homo sapiens. It is the distinction between Genera and Species.
More to the point, can we run down a deer? The answer is yes.U gotta specify that man. There's kids out there gonna be wondering if Car Lewis or Asafa Powell could run down a cheetah
Great apes are not a genus, they are the family Hominidae. There are four genera within this family: Homo (only one species), Pongo (orangutans, two species), Gorilla (two species) and Pan (chimpanzees, two species). Hominidae and Hylobatidae (gibbons or "lesser apes," 13 species in 4 genera) comprise the superfamily of apes, Hominoidea, within the order of Primates.