Naturalis Historia: Volume IV

(originally written for my Evolutionary Theory class)

Evolution of Bipedalism in Hominids

“We must, however, acknowledge, as it seems to me, that man with all his noble qualities… still bears in his bodily frame the indelible stamp of his lowly origin.”
– Charles Darwin, The Descent of Man (1871)

Humans are unique in the animal kingdom as being the only habitual terrestrial biped built for upright walking. Homo sapiens were not alone, however; a diversity of bipedal hominids thrived before us. Being adapted to bipedal movement changed the morphological structure and even behavior of these early hominids, but why did certain species make the transition to bipedal movement? There are many theories as to the origins of bipedalism and the reasons that led these hominids to walk upright. From examining the fossil record and modern primate behavior and anatomy, insights on the evolution of bipedalism can be uncovered.

Evolutionary Studies

Some articles on evolutionary studies:

Early Man Couldn’t Stomach Milk.
Chimps Use Spears To Hunt Mammals.
Chimp “Stone Age” Finds Are Earliest Nonhuman Ape Tools.

Giant Asian ape & humans coexisted

I forgot to post this article about Gigantopithecus blacki, the ancient giant ape. It has been determined that “Giganto” and humans coexisted for a time in China 300,000 years ago. Giganto may be related to Sivapithecus, an extinct ancestor of orangutans.