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Updated: Jul 10, 2026

Studying the Neural Basis of Adaptive Locomotor Behavior in Insects
Published on: April 13, 2011
Comment on "Origin of human bipedalism as an adaptation for locomotion on flexible branches"
D R Begun1, B G Richmond, D S Strait
1Department of Anthropology, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, M5S 2S2, Canada. begun@chass.utoronto.ca
Abstract:
Thorpe et al. (Reports, 1 June 2007, p. 1328) concluded that human bipedalism evolved from a type of bipedal posture they observed in extant orangutans with seemingly human-like extended knees. However, humans share knuckle-walking characters with African apes that are absent in orangutans. These are most parsimoniously explained by positing a knuckle-walking precursor to human bipedalism.
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