Laetoli footprints (Introduction)

by xeno6696 , Sonoran Desert, Saturday, April 10, 2010, 15:51 (5340 days ago) @ David Turell

I've had the privilge of seeing a cast of those famous footprints in Tanzania. Now careful analysis of these 3.5 million year old prints confirm that fully upright walking was involved. Ape walking involves bent knee and bent thigh. To walk upright involves changes in the leg bones, the pelvis, the spine, the head and neck, a beter balance mechanism, and perhaps vision changes. Human walking or hominim walking is more energy efficient.
> -But also has the tradeoff of a weakening spine over time caused due to the fact that the back muscles for most people tend to be completely underdeveloped. Wear and tear on the knees due to walking upright also takes a heavy toll. The tradeoff for being more energy efficient is more wear and tear. A smarter design exists. Pigliucci offers a picture (in Denying Evolution) where an optimized human design is offered for our environment. -> 
> http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0009769

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