Posted on 12/12/2018 9:52:39 AM PST by ETL
The analysis of the world's most complete skeleton of an early human ancestor, conducted by a research collaboration involving the University of Liverpool, offers conclusive evidence that human ancestors became efficient upright walkers while they were still substantially tree dwelling animals.
The first bones of the 3.67 million old skeleton, specimen StW 573 nicknamed 'Little Foot', were 12 foot bones and leg bone fragments identified in boxes in the 1990s. The rest of the skeleton has undergone two decades of painstaking excavation, cleaning, restoring and analysis. It was found in a very deep cavern, with the bone embedded in a concrete-like matrix. The bone is very delicate and in some cases literally paper-thin. However, it has given scientists a far greater understanding of how our species evolved.
Limbs intact
The over 90 percent complete skeleton of an old female, much more than twice as complete as the famous Lucy, and considerably older as well, Little Foot is a member of the genus Australopithecus, a widespread and varied genus of hominins to which Lucy belonged, and which was an early precursor to modern-day Homo sapiens which appeared roughly 300,000 years ago. Little Foot is the first fossil of Australopithecus ever to have been discovered with its limbs intact.
The studies support the argument of her discoverer, Professor Ronald Clarke of the University of the Witwatersrand, that there were two species of Australopithecus living at the same time in South Africa's 'Cradle of Humankind', Australopithecus africanus, which was small, like Lucy, and probably primarily tree-dwelling, and Australopithecus prometheus, which was probably just within the range of modern human stature.
Important finding
As part of the study, which has been reported in Nature Science, Professor Robin Crompton, Honorary University of Liverpool Research Associate in Musculoskeletal Biology, and his colleagues analysed how she would have walked.
Professor Crompton, states: "This hominin, for the first time in the fossil record, had longer lower limbs than upper limbs, like ourselves. This is an important finding, as the slightly older hominin Ardipithecus, which came before Australopithecus, had longer arms than legs – more like other great apes such as the gorilla.
"That means she was being selected for long stride length in bipedalism. Moreover, unlike Lucy, 'Littlefoot' had a hip joint like our own, able to transmit large forces from the trunk to the leg and vice versa. Although Little Foot's legs were longer than her arms, they had not yet achieved the great relative leg length found in humans. Thus, she would not have been as good at carrying objects as we are. However, she would have been much better at climbing trees than modern humans.
"It is most likely that she would have resided in an area that was a mix of tropical rainforest, broken woodland and grassland, through which she would roam around. She would have lived primarily on forest fruits and leaves"
The study involved collaborators from; Aintree University NHS Trust's Department of Rheumatology, University of Brighton's School of Health Sciences, University of Birmingham's School of Biosciences, University of Manchester's School of Earth and Environmental Science, Birmingham-Southern College's Department of Biology (Alabama, U.S.A.) and University of the Witwatersrand's Evolutionary Studies Institute (Johannesburg, South Africa).
The paper is titled "Functional Anatomy, Biomechanical Performance Capabilities and Potential Niche of StW 573: an Australopithecus Skeleton (circa 3.67 Ma) From Sterkfontein Member 2, and its significance for The Last Common Ancestor of the African Apes and for Hominin Origins."
Explore further: Cranium of a four-million-year-old hominin shows similarities to that of modern humans
More information: Robin Huw Crompton et al. Functional Anatomy, Biomechanical Performance Capabilities and Potential Niche of StW 573: an Australopithecus Skeleton (circa 3.67 Ma) From Sterkfontein Member 2, and its significance for The Last Common Ancestor of the African Apes and for Hominin Origins, Nature Science (2018). DOI: 10.1101/481556
Provided by: University of Liverpool
Learned to walk upright in the trees?
That is a nice (feat)!!!!
When it survives the Scientific Method, get back to me. So far lots of fraud by atheists....
Sign-in required; no thanks.
“... learned to walk upright in the trees...”
What, did they have dents in their foreheads from walking into low-hanging branches?
https://animals.howstuffworks.com/mammals/platypus-poison.htm
The duckbill platypus has been called a lot of things since it arrived on the zoological scene in 1798. One adjective that’s likely never been applied to the mammal is “normal” — after all, its physiology and anatomy borrow from birds, reptiles and mammals in a baffling conglomeration of webbed feet and a duck bill, the ability to lay eggs (familiar to both birds and reptiles) and a furry body. In fact, experts in England laughed off the first specimen brought over from its native Australia, believing it was a poorly constructed hoax, like the Bigfoot creature that two men supposedly found in north Georgia in the summer of 2008.
It’s common knowledge that the platypus is a definite oddball in the animal kingdom, but what characteristics really puzzle scientists? Because the platypus has fur and the female nurses its young, the animal is classified as a mammal. But that’s where the mammalian similarities stop. The female platypus doesn’t nurse with nipples; instead, she secretes milk into her abdominal skin that the babies, called puggles, suckle on. They also have webbed feet and bills like birds and lay eggs like reptiles. Also like birds, platypuses have only one orifice for excretion and birth, which is why they’re called monotremes, along with echidnas.
The platypus even shares a special sensory capability with the shark. You see, the platypus lives in and around rivers and feeds off of insects, larvae, shellfish and worms, which it locates underwater. Because it closes its eyes and seals off its nostrils upon submersion, scientists wondered how it manages to hunt without the help of sight or smell. It turns out that tiny pores called electroreceptors dot the platypus bill. These pores open up into sensitive nerve endings that can detect changes in the electrical current in the water. That electricity exists in the form of muscle movements and sometimes from water rushing over stationary objects. This “sense,” termed electroreception, is the same method sharks use to hunt. (A detailed explanation of electroreception can be found in What is electroreception and how do sharks use it?
As a biology/life sciences major, you didn’t tell me anything revelatory.
Asking politely, what’s your point?
Nothing in the article implied learned behaviors were inherited.
"The Genes for a human pelvis and foot had to be there already, before they could, over time, becomes more prevalent in the population."
No. Genes in a population change over time. That's what it means when a physical trait becomes more common. The genes for that trait become more widespread in the population. Gene pools change, and they can acquire new genes they didn't have before.
So? Genes can alter or create behavior.
The environment can alter or create incentives.
It is a sort of "chicken or egg" fallacy.
Once there are incentives, Darwin said selection can push the genetic changes along.
The genes of individuals are constantly being mixed by sexual reproduction.
We have learned that a species has a vast library of genes that can be mixed, allowing for many different, observable and hidden differences in individuals in a population.
Hmmmm... sorry, didn’t realize it. I “subscribe” to some youtube channels, so stay logged in. But, logging out and trying to see the video, I probably get what you get: a request for a youtube login to verify age.
While the vid can be viewed in a logged-on youtube session, I’m sure it is also on netflix and amazon... but those other places, one would still have to login to those providers.
Yeah, right. And exactly why would our predecessors want to “walk” in a tree instead of on flat ground? Oh - that’s right - they must have been idiots compared to us.
https://pigeonchess.com/2012/05/31/gill-slits-by-any-other-name/
My point. Genes are an artificial mental construct to allow us to kind of understand what is going on. To say genes for a pelvis is silly.
Wow. OK.
I suggest you read The Language of God, by Dr. Francis Collins. A renown scientist who became a Christian during his project to map the human genome.
He and I very much disagree with you.
I am not going to cover this here with you, unless you are a geneticist. Years ago I was in the top 1% of college graduates in this area of study.
What you wrote is incorrect. Please accept that.
Nothing follows.
Mark, what you wrote is about 50% correct. Maybe.
Environmental pressures do not cause the creation of new genes, period. Those pressures do drive prominence of certain genes in the breeding population because those organisms are now the most viable. But those genes, or perhaps alleles, almost ALWAYS had to preexist somewhere in the population.
It is biological fact that random changes to Gene’s in gametes almost unerringly yield unviable, infertile, or defective offspring.
Learning to walk in trees does not cause skeletal changes (genetics) to future offspring.
Perhaps those best suited to maneuver in trees had the most viable offspring and this the overall population changed.
I am not going to debate genetics here on FR. It’s an 8 year course of study, not a few snarky posts.
These so called scientists are certainly not geneticists. They may be anthropologists, and ‘real’ scientists look askance at their discipline anyways. Archeology is a science. Anthropology of the long dead is well-educated imagineering in my estimation.
No replies follow.
By the way, by Darwin’s methods of identifying species, one would have to look at the human population and see SCORES of different species.
Darwin is not part of modern genetics really.
"I walk in the trees, but they don't listen to mees..." (sorry, Clint)
Looks like the end of the “road” is near! Ha!
LOL! and a little jealous I didn't think of it...
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