If an animal moves with four limbs it is a quadruped and if it moves with two it is a biped. Thus, standing or bipedalism refers to the action of walking using two legs or legs. This physiological characteristic is shared by some species of the animal kingdom and among them human beings
When the first hominids stood up
Our ancestors underwent a physiological transformation that would change the course of their history. This change was standing. Approximately ten million years ago a climate change of great magnitude took place. As a consequence, a part of the forests disappeared and the hominids found it difficult to find food in the trees. In this way, they gradually abandoned the arboreal life and began to move through the savannah.
When walking on all fours, they could not easily observe the dangers that lurked on the horizon and for this reason it is believed that they had to stand up. According to most scientific studies, standing was the consequence of a genetic mutation.
Bipedalism had an immediate consequence: the liberation of the hands
By having the hands to manipulate the environment, it was possible to obtain food more easily. On the other hand, manual skill generated the possibility of making all kinds of utensils for daily life. With the acquisition of these new manual skills it was no longer necessary for the jaws to be so strong and powerful and this produced their progressive weakening. This physiological change in turn allowed the skull to grow more easily. With a larger skull the brain could develop. With a larger brain, bipedal hominids were able to display all their intelligence.
In short, bipedalism was most likely the physiological transformation that turned us into men or homo sapiens. Scientists estimate that we have been walking upright for about four million years.
Bipedal animals
The ostrich is a bird that does not fly and uses two legs at high speed to move. The penguin is also a bird that does not fly, but can swim and walk. The gorilla is the largest primate and its bipedalism is very similar to that of humans. The meerkat is a small mammal that lives in the Kalahari desert and one of its peculiarities is to stand up.
Photos: Fotolia - Erllre / Sergey Novikov
