Functional morphology of the ankle and the likelihood of climbing in early hominins.

ABSTRACT: Whether early hominins were adept tree climbers is unclear. Although some researchers have argued that bipedality maladapts the hominin skeleton for climbing, others have argued that early hominin fossils display an amalgamation of features consistent with both locomotor strategies. Although chimpanzees have featured prominently in these arguments, there are no published data on the kinematics of climbing in wild chimpanzees. Without these biomechanical data describing how chimpanzees actually climb trees, identifying correlates of climbing in modern ape skeletons is difficult, thereby limiting accurate interpretations of the hominin fossil record. Here, the first kinematic data on vertical climbing in wild chimpanzees are presented. These data are used to identify skeletal correlates of c

SUBMITTER: DeSilva JM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2672491 | biostudies-literature | 2009 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature