Disadvantages Of Bipedalism

Bipedalism is the ability to walk on two legs. This behavior was first associated with apes nearly seven million years ago. During this time period, the jungle Africa started to become barren and lacked enough resources for the apes to continue living as they had. The lack of food in their jungle environment forced them to travel on the ground, however, this led to many problems. While searching for food on the ground, apes were susceptible to predators, they also lacked the ability to transport large amounts of food, meaning they needed to make several trips and expended a much of their energy. The change in the environment caused the apes to adapt. Walking on two feet proved to be beneficial in helping the apes survive in their changing environment, but it came with its share of disadvantages.
There were many reasons for the apes to walking on their hind legs, the most pertinent is freeing their hands. Having free hands meant they could carry food back to their tree, resulting in less trips between the food and home, and ultimately conserving energy. Plus, walking on two legs takes less energy than walking on four legs anyways, some researchers claim that “an ape uses the same amount of energy to move 6 miles as a …show more content…
Bipedalism required “muscular redistribution and neural wiring” just to balance the brain and spinal column over the pelvis. Another downfall is that standing and walking on two legs wreaked havoc on the ape’s body. The disadvantages of bipedalism included “…wear and tear on hips and knees and complications for childbirth” (Cole and Ortega 14). The knees and hips of apes and even humans today, failed to make the necessary changes to deal with the stress of carrying the rest of the body. While the pelvis did adapt to become ideal for bipedalism by becoming narrower, it meant a more difficult birthing process which has greater risk than