(ORDO NEWS) — Primatologists have discovered that baboons have the ability to instantly switch between walking on two and four legs without stops, pauses in movement and significant energy expenditure.
“Our observations of baboons suggest that only a small number of changes in the structure of their pelvis and legs were required for the appearance of upright posture in the distant ancestors of man.
In other words, our ancestors did not have to adapt to a new manner of movement for a long time, since they initially had the ability to expend the minimum amount of energy to move on two legs,” the researchers write.
Anthropologists have long believed that one of the main drivers of human evolution was the changing climate of Africa, which lost much of its forests about three million years ago.
Their disappearance forced the ancestors of Australopithecus and the first representatives of the genus Homo to move from life on the branches of trees to living in the savannas, African forest-steppes.
Living in such conditions, according to many scientists, led to the fact that our ancestors learned to walk on two legs and use their hands to create tools.
A group of anthropologists led by professor at the University of Antwerp (Belgium) Peter Ertz discovered a unique ability in anubis baboons (Papio anubis), whose existence indicates a much earlier appearance of bipedalism among primates than scientists now believe.
Key to the history of bipedal evolution
While observing the movements of baboons in one of the European nurseries, Professor Erts and his colleagues noticed that these primates very often stood up on their hind legs right on the move and began to move on two legs.
This transition was so quick and smooth that the observation led scientists to study in detail how baboons switch between different walking patterns.
To do this, scientists installed a mirror in the enclosure with baboons, which attracted the attention of primates and forced them to stand on their front paws.
When the monkeys approached the mirror, they were caught in the view of hidden cameras, which recorded at high speed as the baboons switched between walking on two and four legs.
Subsequent analysis of these videos showed that all the monkeys used the same unique technique that allowed them to switch between modes of movement on the go.
To do this, they squat on their hind legs and continue to move forward, while pushing off the ground with their front limbs.
This allows the primates to arch their backs and transition to bipedal locomotion with minimal expenditure of energy and time.
According to scientists, the presence of a similar ability in baboons, whose last common ancestors with humans lived on Earth more than 20 million years ago, speaks in favor of the fact that similar adaptations were also characteristic of ancient hominids.
They lived in approximately the same climatic conditions as baboons, and the arrangement of the bones of their legs and pelvis was in many ways similar.
This makes baboons especially interesting for studying the history of the appearance of bipedalism, the scientists concluded.
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