The other one is a grasping device, much more mobile and less effective at walking on two legs. One is a rigid lever that makes walking long distances easy and efficient. Most researchers studying human evolution assume a stark dichotomy between human and chimpanzee feet. (University of Arizona College of Medicine, Phoenix), conducted the research and collected data while all were at Stony Brook University (2013–2015).

(Stony Brook University School of Medicine) and Matthew O’Neill, Ph.D. (Harvard University) Brigitte Demes, Ph.D.

The research team, including members Nicholas Holowka, Ph.D. In contrast, African apes have long been thought to have highly mobile foot joints for climbing tree trunks and grasping branches, although few detailed quantitative studies have been carried out to confirm these beliefs.īut now, Nathan Thompson, Ph.D., assistant professor of Anatomy at New York Institute of Technology College of Osteopathic Medicine (NYITCOM), is one of the researchers questioning some long-held ideas about the function and evolution of the human foot by investigating how chimpanzees use their feet when walking on two legs. This structure is thought to be a critical adaptation for bipedal locomotion, or walking on two legs, in part because this arch is absent from the feet of humans’ closest living relatives, the African apes. The human foot is distinguished from the feet of all other primates by the presence of a longitudinal arch, which spans numerous joints and bones of the midfoot region and is thought to stiffen the foot. Newswise - An investigation into the evolution of human walking by looking at how chimpanzees walk on two legs is the subject of a new research paper published in the March 2017 issue of Journal of Human Evolution.

Chimpanzee feet vs human feet