Contributed by: filbert Friday, June 01 2007 @ 08:29 AM CST
I’ve been worried, it’s been almost a week since the last simian article of note. But never fear, ScienceDaily comes through with:
Lessons From The Orangutans: Upright Walking May Have Begun In The Trees[*1]
Lessons From The Orangutans: Upright Walking May Have Begun In The Trees[*1]
Because these ancestors were probably fruit-eaters, as orangutans are, they would have needed a way to navigate the thin, flexible branches at the tree’s periphery, where the fruit typically is. Moving on two legs and using their arms primarily for balance, or “hand-assisted bipedalism,” may have helped them travel on these branches.The researchers analyzed nearly 3,000 examples of observed orangutan movement, and found that the orangutans were more likely to use hand-assisted bipedalism when they were on the thinnest branches. When bipedal, the animals also tended to grip multiple branches with their long toes.