From Four Legs to Two

From at least 6 to 3 million years ago,?early humans, or hominids combined ape-like and human-like ways of moving around. Fossil bones show a gradual transition from climbing trees to walking upright on a regular basis.

Bipedalism, or walking on two legs, separated the first hominids from the rest of the four-legged apes. In 2000, paleoanthropologists working in Kenya found the teeth and two thigh bones of the six-million-year-old?Orrorin tugenensis. The shape of the thigh bones confirms?Orrorin?was bipedal. The earliest hominid with the most extensive evidence for bipedalism is the 4.4-million-year-old?Ardipithecus ramidus.

Fast-forward to the 1980s at University of California, Davis, Peter Rodman and Henry McHenry made the suggestion that hominids evolved to walk upright in response to climate change.

As forests shrank, hominid ancestors found themselves descending from the trees to walk across stretches of grassland that separated forest patches to forage, scavenge and eventually hunt for food.

Another hypothesis is the idea that humans began walking on two feet instead of four to free their hands to do other tasks.?Primates?had already adapted the opposable thumb on their forelimbs before bipedalism happened.

This allowed primates to grasp and hold smaller objects other animals were incapable of grabbing with their forelimbs. Our human ancestors started problem-solving in new ways, and this led to the use of tools to help make tasks, such as cracking open nuts or sharpening spears for hunting, easier.
Yet another hypothesis is that water acted as an agent for change of our evolution to walk upright more than it has in the evolution of our ape cousins.

To Be Continued…..

Lack of movement discourages the development of robust bone structure, and a diet lacking minerals and micronutrients deprive the body of having the necessary building blocks to support adequately strong bones and tissue.

Nature Got It Right

Wellness Academy USA ? San Diego
•