Archives for bipedalism

12.02.21

Mystery solved: footprints from Site A at Laetoli, Tanzania, are from early humans, not bears

Journal Article, In the News
The oldest unequivocal evidence of upright walking in the human lineage are footprints discovered at Laetoli, Tanzania in 1978, by paleontologist Mary Leakey and her team. The bipedal trackways date to 3.7 million years ago. Another set of mysterious footprints was partially excavated at nearby Site A in 1976 but dismissed as possibly being made by a bear. A recent re-excavation of the Site A footprints at Laetoli and a detailed comparative analysis reveal that the footprints were made by an early human
10.06.15

Surprising trunk rotational capabilities in chimpanzees

Journal Article
Nathan Thompson is a PhD candidate at Stony Brook University who was awarded a Leakey Foundation research grant in the spring of 2014. He and his team were published in this month’s issue of Nature Communications, and he has been kind enough to provide us a brief summary of the article.  Compared to our great ape relatives, humans possess a long and flexible trunk (the part of the body that includes the… more »
05.06.15

Origin Stories Episode 01: On Two Feet with Carol Ward

Origin Stories
Every good story starts at the beginning. In the first episode of Origin Stories we talk with Carol Ward about one of the first things that distinguished our ancestors from the other primates, the weird way we walk around. Carol Ward is Curator’s Professor and Director of Anatomical Sciences in the integrative anatomy program at the University of Missouri, where she directs the Ward Laboratory. Her… more »
03.06.15

Guest Post: Why walk on two legs?

Speaker Series, Guest Post
By Jeremy DeSilva of Boston University. Jeremy will discuss the question “Why walk on two legs?” at a SciCafe at the American Museum of Natural History on April 1, 2015. This article is an excellent introduction to the pros and cons of bipedalism.
Humans are weird. We are mammals, yet we have very little body hair. We are primates, yet unlike most primates, we are generally uncomfortable in… more »