Evolution Of Bipedal Locomotio
Subject: Evolution of Bipedal Locomotion What are we? To the biologist we are members of a sub-species called Homo sapiens sapiens, which represents a division of the species known as Homo sapiens. The most interesting aspect about our species is that we are able to and can walk upright on our hind legs at all times. This is defiantly not the usual way of getting around for a mammal. The view of evolution is to see it as the product of steady environmental pressure exerted on each species, improving its adaptation to its habitat. This pressure, which has been termed natural selection is responsible for this. Natural selection works on the premise that in any population, no two individuals are exactly alike. Most of the differences between them are inherited from their parents, and are thus capable of being passed along to the next generation. Each generation will be slightly different from the one before it, and a little better adapted to the prevailing condition (Hand, 1993). Habitually walking around on the hindlimbs, leaving the forelimbs free for other jobs, is an unusual mode of locomotion. Once our ancestors had adopted an upright stance, many things associated with being human became possible, such as fine manipul
Natural selection is also important to take into consideration when talking about the evolution of bipeds. For example, some of the consequences of having a bipedal posture in a unshaded extremely hot environment would be that a bipedal human reduces the area of the body receiving both the direct rays of the sun and the heat radiating from the earth. It is also thought that in Bipeds, less of the body is exposed directly to the sun compared to quadrapeds. For example Lucy a almost complete skeleton of an A. Some of the bones in the feet are slightly curved, and look like the bones you would expect to see in a human ancestral who climbed trees (Hunt, 1993). So it is reasonable to say that a small homonide would have walked upright readily when it was on the ground. However, when walking on two legs this means that at each pace the body's center of gravity must be swung inefficiently in a circle around the supporting leg. Improvement in reproduction is considered one of the benefits of the Bipedals compared to the quadrapeds Bipedalism enables adult to carry food manually to their females and offspring. Living primates do stand or walk upright for the most part when they are feeding and on the ground (Leakey, 1981). It is Probably at this point in human evolution with respect to bipedalism, A. Nevertheless, the origin of bipedalism must be seen as one of the major steps, if not the major step, in human evolution. This indicates that the trunk is being supported by the pelvis and body weight is being transmitted directly downward through the knees when the individual stands erect (Berge, 1990). The reason why these changes occoured are not simple, but on examination of the evidence do seem quite clear.
Common topics in this essay:
Hand1993 Probably,
Bipedal Locomotion,
Evolution Bipedal,
human evolution,
bipedal locomotion,
upright walking,
natural selection,
evolution bipedal locomotion,
center gravity,
strickberger 1990,
modern human,
weight transmitted,
knee joints,
walk upright,
shin bones form,
thigh shin bones,
body weight transmitted,
bipedalism human evolution,
|
Acceptance Essays
