Using kinematic analysis, a team of researchers from Stony Brook University and the University of Arizona College of Medicine found that chimp and human locomotion share more similarities than previously thought. Until now, however, no one ever verified that assumption. Following this logic, scientists also concluded that human ancestors prior to Homo erectus-whose morphology shares commonalities with chimps-likely walked that way, too. Pairing that observation with studies of chimp bone structure, researchers had long assumed that our closest relatives lack the counter-rotations characteristic of human motion.
As they make their way forward, the trunk appears rigid while the swing of the hips and arms seems overly pronounced and somewhat clumsy. When they do walk upright, their compact trunks and tall, wide hips cause them to stoop. Finally, swinging arms counterbalance the sway of the hips, completing the characteristic human gait.Ĭhimpanzees, on the other hand, can be trained to walk on two hind legs and will occasionally do it in the wild, but it is not their preferred means of getting around. As the pelvis rotates forward, the trunk moves in the opposite direction, cancelling out angular momentum and reducing the amount of energy burned while walking. When we humans strut our stuff, we do it by coordinating the movements of our hips and upper bodies.
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