IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nat/natcom/v1y2010i1d10.1038_ncomms1073.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Upright human gait did not provide a major mechanical challenge for our ancestors

Author

Listed:
  • H.-M. Maus

    (Lauflabor Locomotion Laboratory, University of Jena
    Dornburger Straße 23)

  • S.W. Lipfert

    (Lauflabor Locomotion Laboratory, University of Jena
    Dornburger Straße 23)

  • M. Gross

    (Lauflabor Locomotion Laboratory, University of Jena
    Dornburger Straße 23)

  • J. Rummel

    (Lauflabor Locomotion Laboratory, University of Jena
    Dornburger Straße 23)

  • A. Seyfarth

    (Lauflabor Locomotion Laboratory, University of Jena
    Dornburger Straße 23)

Abstract

Habitual bipedalism is considered as a major breakthrough in human evolution and is the defining feature of hominins. Upright posture is presumably less stable than quadrupedal posture, but when using external support, for example, toddlers assisted by their parents, postural stability becomes less critical. In this study, we show that humans seem to mimic such external support by creating a virtual pivot point (VPP) above their centre of mass. A highly reduced conceptual walking model based on this assumption reveals that such virtual support is sufficient for achieving and maintaining postural stability. The VPP is experimentally observed in walking humans and dogs and in running chickens, suggesting that it might be a convenient emergent behaviour of gait mechanics and not an intentional locomotion behaviour. Hence, it is likely that even the first hominis may have already applied the VPP, a mechanism that would have facilitated the development of habitual bipedalism.

Suggested Citation

  • H.-M. Maus & S.W. Lipfert & M. Gross & J. Rummel & A. Seyfarth, 2010. "Upright human gait did not provide a major mechanical challenge for our ancestors," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 1(1), pages 1-6, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:1:y:2010:i:1:d:10.1038_ncomms1073
    DOI: 10.1038/ncomms1073
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/ncomms1073
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1038/ncomms1073?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:1:y:2010:i:1:d:10.1038_ncomms1073. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.nature.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.