Why did natural selection favor bipedalism?
Scientists actually aren't decided on why natural selection favored bipedalism in humans, and there are many ideas.
There are multiple theories as to why humans walk upright. For example, some believe that we evolved to walk upright in order to see over tall grasses, although others argue that this would have immediately announced our presence to predators. Some believe we started walking upright because we were using stone tools, but the earliest stone tools show up in the fossil record long after our ancestors started walking upright.
Others argue that bipedalism is more efficient, meaning we use less energy, than walking on all fours over long distances. Indeed, a recent study showed that humans are about 75% more efficient than chimps when chimps walk on two legs due to differences in our anatomy.
Another theory states that walking upright was advantageous for males because they were able to carry food back to females with offspring. Males provisioned females and therefore lowered reproductive costs. There are problems with this theory too, as our primate relatives show it's usually the females who provision their young. So this idea of our female ancestors lying around burdened with offspring ignores what we see in living primates.
Here's one anthropologist, Dr. Donald Johanson's thoughts on the evolution of bipedalism: https://tutor.hix.ai
Here's another great resource on bipedalism from the Smithsonian: https://tutor.hix.ai
The bottom line is that we still don't know!
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Natural selection favored bipedalism because it offered early hominids several advantages: better visibility over tall grasses for spotting predators and prey, increased energy efficiency for long-distance travel, freeing up the hands for carrying objects and manipulating tools, and possibly even facilitating thermoregulation by reducing sun exposure.
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When evaluating a one-sided limit, you need to be careful when a quantity is approaching zero since its sign is different depending on which way it is approaching zero from. Let us look at some examples.
When evaluating a one-sided limit, you need to be careful when a quantity is approaching zero since its sign is different depending on which way it is approaching zero from. Let us look at some examples.
When evaluating a one-sided limit, you need to be careful when a quantity is approaching zero since its sign is different depending on which way it is approaching zero from. Let us look at some examples.
When evaluating a one-sided limit, you need to be careful when a quantity is approaching zero since its sign is different depending on which way it is approaching zero from. Let us look at some examples.
- How did evolution start?
- What causes many endangered species that are now found only in zoos to have very little genetic variation?
- How is artificial selection different from genetic engineering?
- What is an example of a physical barrier? How might it affect where species are found?
- What are sources for genetic variation?
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