Title of the Essay We Australopithecus afarensis had been living in the northeastern Africa ever since our first generation. Though not being known as the most powerful living species here, our ingrained talent in arboreal life helped us gain advantage over many other species in chance of survival. For centuries we firmly believed in the idea of all creatures were quadrupedal and we had never seen any exception. It was by accident that we discovered a group of species that featured bipedalism named Homo sapiens. This discovery refuted our long-held belief and successfully aroused us interests. The Homo sapiens were in fact similar to us in many aspects of body traits. Therefore, the key to the mystery would most likely lie in those distinctions
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Their forearms were much shorter than the average length of an Australopithecus afarensis while their hind limbs were much longer in size. That process of inter-limb proportion significantly diminished their capability of climbing trees over years of time (Lucy 1982:677). Consequently they were driven out of the arboreal life style. Therefore, there came the necessity of adapting new life style to survive in the nature—bipedalism. There were other traits of the Homo sapiens to prove the existence of this transition.
In the case of upper limbs, the fingers of the Homo sapiens were shorter in length and straight in shape instead of being longer in length and curved like those of us. These tiny differences made it much harder for them to grab the tree branches and to move in the trees like a typical arboreal species could (McHenry, Coffing 2000:129).
However, these evolved traits helped the Homo sapiens’ transition to endurance runners and thus secured their survival. Their fingers had improved flexibility and sensitivity. These two characters facilitated their process of tool production and tool utilization. Besides, the skeletal structure of the Homo sapiens’ shoulder were developed lower but wider than us. Their shoulders seemed to be more to the backside of their bodies and were extremely flexible (McHenry, Coffing 2000:131-132). This superiority furthered their absolute advantage in bipedalism life
Their forearms were much shorter than the average length of an Australopithecus afarensis while their hind limbs were much longer in size. That process of inter-limb proportion significantly diminished their capability of climbing trees over years of time (Lucy 1982:677). Consequently they were driven out of the arboreal life style. Therefore, there came the necessity of adapting new life style to survive in the nature—bipedalism. There were other traits of the Homo sapiens to prove the existence of this transition.
In the case of upper limbs, the fingers of the Homo sapiens were shorter in length and straight in shape instead of being longer in length and curved like those of us. These tiny differences made it much harder for them to grab the tree branches and to move in the trees like a typical arboreal species could (McHenry, Coffing 2000:129).
However, these evolved traits helped the Homo sapiens’ transition to endurance runners and thus secured their survival. Their fingers had improved flexibility and sensitivity. These two characters facilitated their process of tool production and tool utilization. Besides, the skeletal structure of the Homo sapiens’ shoulder were developed lower but wider than us. Their shoulders seemed to be more to the backside of their bodies and were extremely flexible (McHenry, Coffing 2000:131-132). This superiority furthered their absolute advantage in bipedalism life