Fossil feet may be misleading scientists about human evolution
New research on sooty mangabey monkeys challenges the assumption that specific foot anatomy is required for vertical tree climbing. This suggests that fossilized foot structures may not be as definitive in determining the movement behaviors of human ancestors as previously thought.
Why it matters
This study forces a re-evaluation of how scientists interpret the evolutionary history of human locomotion and the capabilities of our last common ancestor with chimpanzees.
New research suggests that whatever scientists ultimately discover about the last common ancestor of humans and chimpanzees, one characteristic may be difficult to dispute: it was probably capable of climbing trees.
Humans and chimpanzees went their separate evolutionary ways between 6 and 7 million years ago, when they diverged from the last common ancestor (LCA) they once shared. Reconstructing that ancestor has become an important part of understanding human evolution, including the emergence of walking on two legs.
One major question concerns where and how the LCA moved through forests. Did it spend much of its time among high horizontal branches, climb vertically from the ground, or combine both behaviors?
Rethinking What Feet Reveal About Climbing
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