In fact, over 85% of the occurrences of bipedalism that were observed took place when the apes were in the trees. "Our study suggests that the retreat of forests in the late Miocene-Pliocene era ...

In this video segment adapted from NOVA, see how paleoanthropologists—including Don Johanson, with his famous discovery of the Australopithecus afarensis "Lucy"—have used the fossil record to identify ...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Bipedal locomotion - walking upright on two legs - is a fundamental trait underpinning humankind's success. Scientists now have identified two innovations that occurred long ago ...

Few attributes of being human have attracted more intense thought than the simple fact that, unlike all other living mammals, we walk upright on two legs. Human bipedalism represents a major ...

It's hard to tell when—and why—our ancestors got down from trees and started walking on two legs. Many early hominins capable of bipedal walking were also well-adapted for climbing, and we lack fossil ...

How did human bipedalism evolve towards greater energy efficiency? By analyzing the occasional bipedal walking of baboons, researchers have modeled energy transfers between body segments. Their ...

A trio of upright walkers: Lucy (middle) and Australopithecus sediba (left and right) Compiled by Peter Schmid courtesy of Lee R. Berger, University of the ...

A male western gorilla (Gorilla gorilla), photographed at the Bronx Zoo. The origin of human bipedalism has long been a hot topic among paleoanthropologists. At the very least it is seen as something ...