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Palaeoenvironments and hominoid evolution.

Martin Pickford1

  • 1Collège de France, Laboratoire de Paléontologie, UMR 8569 du CNRS, 8 rue Buffon, 75005 Paris, France.

Zeitschrift Fur Morphologie Und Anthropologie
|June 8, 2002
PubMed
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Obligate bipedal locomotion distinguishes hominids from other hominoids. This study suggests human origins of bipedalism coincided with Miocene faunal turnover and adaptation to open habitats.

Area of Science:

  • Paleoanthropology
  • Evolutionary Biology
  • Primatology

Background:

  • Obligate bipedal locomotion is a defining trait of hominids (Homo, Praeanthropus, Australopithecus, Paranthropus), differentiating them from quadrupedal hominoids (Pan, Gorilla, Pongo).
  • Fossil record scarcity between 15 Ma and 4.2 Ma presents a challenge in understanding the origins of hominid bipedalism.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the evolutionary pressures and environmental context surrounding the emergence of bipedal locomotion in early hominids.
  • To correlate the evolution of bipedalism with significant faunal and environmental changes in Africa during the late Miocene.

Main Methods:

  • Analysis of Old World geology and paleontology to reconstruct paleoenvironments and faunal changes.
  • Comparative analysis of locomotion and dietary adaptations between hominids and other hominoids.

Related Experiment Videos

Main Results:

  • A significant faunal turnover occurred in Africa towards the end of the Miocene, favoring 'modern' lineages adapted to open habitats over 'archaic' ones.
  • Hominoids adapted to open environments likely increased foraging ranges, creating selective pressure for locomotor modification (bipedalism) rather than dietary changes.
  • The emergence of bipedal hominids is hypothesized to have occurred during this period of faunal reorganization, potentially dating the family Hominidae (sensu stricto) to 8-7 Ma.

Conclusions:

  • Hominid bipedalism likely evolved in response to late Miocene environmental shifts and associated changes in foraging strategies.
  • The study posits a link between ecological pressures and the unique locomotor adaptation defining the human lineage.