Limb morphology, bipedal gait, and the energetics of hominid locomotion

✍ Scribed by Steudel, Karen

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1996
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 43 KB
• Volume: 99
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0002-9483
• DOI: 10.1002/(sici)1096-8644(199602)99:2<345::aid-ajpa9>3.0.co;2-x

✦ Synopsis

How viable is the argument that increased locomotor efficiency was a n important agent in the origin of hominid bipedalism? This study reviews data from the literature on the cost of human bipedal walking and running and compares it to data on quadrupedal mammals including several non-human primate species. Literature data comparing the cost of bipedal and quadrupedal locomotion in trained capuchin monkeys and chimpanzees are also considered. It is concluded that increased energetic efficiency would not have accrued to early bipeds. Presumably, however, selection for improved efficiency in the bipedal stance would have occurred once the transition was made. Would such a process have included selection for increased limb length? Data on the cost of locomotion vs. limb length reveal no significant relationship between these variables in 21 species of mammals or in human walking or running. o 1996 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

Hominids are unique among mammals in possessing a n erect, striding bipedal gait. The evolution of bipedal posture and locomotion has long been thought to be a key event in hominid evolution, so it is not surprising that considerable attention has focused on the selective influences that produced this change in posture. Possible advantages of bipedalism and erect posture are manifold, and include 1) increased visual range (Day, 1977;Ravey, 1978); 2) decreased heat load (Wheeler, 1984); 3) ease of transporting food andor offspring (