Extinct ape didn’t walk upright

This video says about itself:

The Ape That Took Over the World (Documentary)

14 Jan 2013

In 2001, scientists announced an amazing discovery: the oldest skull of a human ancestor ever found. The 3½ million year old fossil was remarkably complete, and unlike any previous fossil find. Its discovery – by a team led by Meave Leakey of the famous Leakey fossil-hunting family – has revolutionised our understanding of how humans evolved.

The great mystery of our evolution is how an ape could have evolved into the extraordinary creature that is a human being. There has never been another animal like us on the planet. And yet ten million years ago there was no sign that humans would take over the world. Instead the Earth was dominated by the apes. More than 50 different species of ape roamed the world – ten million years ago Earth really was the planet of the apes. Three million years later, most had vanished. In their place came something clearly related to the apes, but also completely different: human beings!

From the India Times:

Ancient Apes Didn’t Walk Upright

July 27, 2013, 3:46 pm IST

WASHINGTON: The ancient ape did not walk on two legs like humans do, as was previously believed, a new study has found, contradicting long-held assumptions.

The new study, led by University of Texas at Austin, found a 9- to 7-million-year-old ape from Italy did not, in fact, walk habitually on two legs. The findings refute a long body of evidence, suggesting that Oreopithecus had the capabilities for bipedal (moving on two legs) walking.

The study, published in the Journal of Human Evolution, confirms that anatomical features related to habitual upright, twolegged walking remain exclusively associated with humans and their fossil ancestors. “Our findings offer new insight into the Oreopithecus locomotor debate,” said anthropologists Gabrielle A Russo.

“While it’s certainly possible that Oreopithecus walked on two legs to some extent, as apes are known to employ short bouts of this activity, an increasing amount of anatomical evidence clearly demonstrates that it didn’t do so habitually,” said Russo.

The researchers analysed the fossil ape to see whether it possessed lower spine anatomy consistent with bipedal walking.

According to the findings, the anatomy of Oreopithecus lumbar vertebrae and sacrum is unlike that of humans, and more similar to apes, indicating that it is incompatible with the functional demands of walking upright as a human does.

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• Prehistoric Ape Oreopithecus Did Not Walk on Two Legs Like Human (sci-news.com)
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• Extinct Ancient Apes Did Not Walk on Two Legs Like Humans, Study (scienceworldreport.com)
• Louise Leakey: WATCH: Is The Human Race In Danger Of Becoming Extinct Soon? (huffingtonpost.com)
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