the evolution Discussion Responses
TOPIC: EVOLUTION BY BIPEDALISM
Pedaling is operating the pedals for example as in cycling with the aim of moving from one place to the other for that matter if we know “Bi” means two; as in bilateral –‘two sided for example. We can now clearly deduce that bipedalism must have something to do with using two limbs for movement or locomotion (walking, jogging, running etc.). Bipedalism can however be defined as moving on two legs or limbs from one place to the other by animals.
As evidently puplished by eFossill.com at (http://www.efossils.org/book/step-step-evolution-bipedalism) also for reading material on this topic, go to:file:///C:/Users/Takama/AppData/Local/Microsoft/Windows/INetCache/IE/EKTXIM2O/Step%20by%20Step-Bipedalism%20Evolution_1.pdf,
Fossil records can are a major evidence in determining the role of selective pressures by bipedalism on human evolution. There are two distinct types of bipedalism: 1. In a/ facultative bipedalism locomotion, animal engage in the use of two limbs temporarily for a function or to perform some activity. As can be seen in gorillas and chimpanzees, and also the octopus piles up 6 of its 8 tentacles on its head to camouflage from predators and uses the other two limbs to retreat from them. The other which involves permanent and or habitual locomotion is called habitual or obligate bipedalism. The use of this method of motion has been relegated to a rare few animals including Humans and Kangaroos.
It is evidently said that “many early Hominins (early human and all their bipedal fossil relatives) shoed a combination of primitive and novel adaptations that suggests they were Bipedal while still engaged in arboreal behavior”.
The major similarity of some morphological characteristics found in the anatomical interdependence of bipedalism include “the Vagus Knee, a more inferior placed magnum, the presence of reduced big toe, a higher arch on the foot; a more posterior orientation of the anterior portion of the iliac blade; a relatively larger femoral head diameter; an increased femoral neck length; and a slightly larger and anteroposteriorly elongated condyles of the femur. Each of these features is a specific adaptation to address problems associated with bipedalism”.
It is acclaimed that all characteristic anatomic adaptions necessary for habitual bipedalism are enlisted in the fossil book and that one can hypothesize that evolutionary origins of bipedalism if we reconcile the the fossil evidence with the geologic time scale (http://www.efossils.org/book/anatomical-evidence-bipedalism).
In conclusion I would want to share how strong the evidence of bipedalism as depicted in a 3:06 video of a story of an ape Lucy whose remains were found by Dr. Johanson of an ape called Lucy and the link https://www.pbslearningmedia.org/resource/novat10.sci.life.evo.lucy/fossil-evidence-of-bipedalism/#.WjvIPuRrzcs support how Lucy was just like us at her lower segment that supported her bipedalism motion just like the modern humans. “In this video segment adapted from NOVA, see how paleoanthropologists—including Don Johanson, with his famous discovery of the Australopithecus afarensis “Lucy”—have used the fossil record to identify a large number of fairly similar bipedal species that encompass ancestors of humans and related species. These species, which walked upright like humans, but resembled apes in small brain size and in facial structure, flourished as a group for millions of years. Scientists still debate which of these species was our direct ancestor. The video features a comparison of Lucy’s fossilized pelvis bone with that of an ape, and shows how strikingly similar Lucy’s is to a human one.
The functional demands of bipedalism have exerted a strong influence on the postcranial skeletal adaptations of modern humans as well as extinct hominins. For example, australopithecines share with modern humans many of the essential features of bipedalism such as reorganized pelvic and lower back anatomy, a valgus knee, and a relatively robust calcaneus. However, australopithecines have many unique features that differ from modern humans in significant ways. Humans do not share the long ala of the ilia, the relatively smaller femoral heads, or the curved fingers and toes seen in Australopithecus. This combination of primitive and derived features leads many researchers to support the idea that australopithecines engaged in a form of locomotion that was not identical to that of modern humans, including a greater amount of time engaged in climbing and suspensory behaviors. Australopithecus may, then, represent a mosaic of evolutionary adaptations for life on the ground and in the trees.
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