A study on Orangutans has let scientists propose that humans have been walking on two legs much earlier than expected.
The idea has been proposed by three British scientists who have stated that bipedal walking arose in arboreal apes 17 to 24 million years ago, rather than the anticipated 4 to 8 million years ago.
Scientists came to this conclusion by watching the Orangutans navigate fragile tree branches in search of food. Till now scientists were of the belief that human ancestors came down from trees and began walking on the ground on all four legs which later changed to “knuckle walking” like modern chimpanzees and gorillas. This knuckle walking was like a foot step that later was converted to bipedal walking like we all do.
But the latest observations of wild Orangutans navigating tree branches on two legs suggest that bipedal walk did not come into existence when apes climbed down from trees but it came into being while they were still on the trees.
Orangutans can be easily seen walking on two legs in the trees to reach fruit on the most fragile branches, using their arms to keep balance or grasp for food.
Via: Reuters
