Bone studies show human ancestor walked on two legs
It's a well-known fact that bones can tell great stories: stories of crimes, stories of age, stories of travel and change.
Christopher Ruff of the Hopkins School of Medicine also uses bones to tell a story - the story of our evolutionary past. He studies the fossils of hominids, our closest human-like ancestors, especially the species Homo erectus.
Ruff is interested in the origins of bipedalism, the ability to walk on two legs, which is seen in modern humans but few other species.
Bipedalism "is one of the most important - some would say, the most important - characteristic defining modern humans and their ancestors, early hominins, back to the split from African apes. So, being able to recognize when and how that occurred in the fossil record is very important," Ruff said.
Evidence suggests that Homo erectus is an especially important hominid because it was the first to leave Africa and spread to the rest of the Old World. They looked quite similar to modern humans, though with a significantly smaller brain.
It is likely that Homo erectus was socially similar to modern humans as well, being hunter-gatherers and actually using tools such as hand axes to do their work. It has been suggested that Homo erectus could communicate in a more sophisticated manner than modern apes, even though they probably lacked the capacity for true speech.
Ruff has studied the upper leg and arm bones of two complete Homo erectus fossils to learn more about how they might have moved. Previously, skeletal studies of the two remains have included external length measurements.
Ruff has found something even more interesting by studying not just the exterior dimensions, but also bone width and strength by using radiological scans, much like a doctor might order.
Because bipedal, or two-footed, animals exert a lot of force on their legs by carrying most of their weight on them, the shape and strength of their leg bones are very different from those of quadrupeds, or four-footed animals, which distribute their weight more equally among all four legs.
Christopher Ruff of the Hopkins School of Medicine also uses bones to tell a story - the story of our evolutionary past. He studies the fossils of hominids, our closest human-like ancestors, especially the species Homo erectus.
Ruff is interested in the origins of bipedalism, the ability to walk on two legs, which is seen in modern humans but few other species.
Bipedalism "is one of the most important - some would say, the most important - characteristic defining modern humans and their ancestors, early hominins, back to the split from African apes. So, being able to recognize when and how that occurred in the fossil record is very important," Ruff said.
Evidence suggests that Homo erectus is an especially important hominid because it was the first to leave Africa and spread to the rest of the Old World. They looked quite similar to modern humans, though with a significantly smaller brain.
It is likely that Homo erectus was socially similar to modern humans as well, being hunter-gatherers and actually using tools such as hand axes to do their work. It has been suggested that Homo erectus could communicate in a more sophisticated manner than modern apes, even though they probably lacked the capacity for true speech.
Ruff has studied the upper leg and arm bones of two complete Homo erectus fossils to learn more about how they might have moved. Previously, skeletal studies of the two remains have included external length measurements.
Ruff has found something even more interesting by studying not just the exterior dimensions, but also bone width and strength by using radiological scans, much like a doctor might order.
Because bipedal, or two-footed, animals exert a lot of force on their legs by carrying most of their weight on them, the shape and strength of their leg bones are very different from those of quadrupeds, or four-footed animals, which distribute their weight more equally among all four legs.
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