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Tree climbing and human evolution.

Vivek V Venkataraman1, Thomas S Kraft, Nathaniel J Dominy

  • 1Department of Biological Sciences, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH 03755, USA. vivek.v.venkataraman@dartmouth.edu

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Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Modern human tree climbers exhibit exceptional ankle flexibility, similar to chimpanzees. This suggests early hominins could have climbed trees despite adaptations for walking, challenging long-held paleoanthropological theories.

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Area of Science:

  • Paleoanthropology
  • Human Anatomy
  • Biomechanics

Background:

  • Debate exists on early hominin climbing abilities and whether bipedalism limited arboreal access.
  • Modern humans, like the Twa, routinely climb trees for resources, indicating adaptations for arboreality.
  • Facultative arboreality is expected to favor anatomical and behavioral traits for safe climbing.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the climbing abilities of modern human hunter-gatherers.
  • To determine if ankle and calf muscle adaptations facilitate climbing in humans with bipedal feet.
  • To challenge the traditional arboreal-terrestrial dichotomy in hominin evolution.

Main Methods:

  • Observed Twa hunter-gatherers' ankle dorsiflexion during climbing.
  • Examined museum specimens of climbing hunter-gatherers for skeletal signatures.
  • Compared gastrocnemius muscle fiber length in Twa climbers and non-climbing agriculturalists.

Main Results:

  • Twa climbers demonstrated ankle dorsiflexion exceeding 45°, comparable to chimpanzees.
  • No skeletal signature of dorsiflexion was found in museum specimens.
  • Climbing Twa exhibited longer gastrocnemius muscle fibers than non-climbing neighbors.

Conclusions:

  • Extended ankle dorsiflexion and specific calf muscle morphology facilitate climbing in humans with bipedally adapted feet.
  • These adaptations allow safe and efficient arboreal resource acquisition.
  • Derived hominin ankle traits are compatible with vertical climbing, suggesting bipedalism did not preclude arboreal activities.