by Stephen Whitt
Odyssey: Adventures in Science
October 2009
pages 26-28
Article summary:
Humans. Humans is a specie that can walk in their two feet (some animals can actually walk in their two but in a clumsy way). Anthropologists have many answers at the question " From where did we took our different walking?". According to the article two things are for sure "Upright is very old and it came long before we modern humans evolved our big brains". We are similar to chimpanzees, apes etc but we are not kins. Our relationship is that we share an ancestor similar to both species. One of our differences with all animals and especially with chimps and all this kinds, is that we have a larger brain and that out skull construction is quite different. Scientists can tell how they walked by looking at the foramen magnum in the skull. Sot they did to compare a chimp's, an A.afarenhis's and a human skull. The chimp's foramen magnum looks up (walks on four legs), ours is looking horizontal (we walk on 2) and at last A.afarensis foramen magnum is looking horizontal (just like us). A theory of why we walked on two (according to the author) is "We started walking on two,he says, to free our hands and arms for carrying food to our arms". Another theory is that we stood up in two for to cross hot desserts. But which one is rue and basically why we walk upright(on out two)?
Whitt, Stephen. "On our two feet." Odyssey: Adventures in Science Oct. 2009: 26-28. Print.
