1

Article summary for “Is step width decoupled from pelvic motion in human evolution?”

Aikerim Mukhametkali

School of Sciences and Humanities, Nazarbayev University

ANT 160: Introduction to Biological Anthropology

Professor Reed Coil

April 3, 2022
 2

Article Summary

This article was written to analyze the relationship between pelvic motion (especially

pelvic list), hip adduction, and step width in bipedalism throughout evolution. To find that out,

the authors focused on making observations and comparing how chimpanzees and humans walk

and how their hips and pelvic motion were involved in walking bipedally with steps of different

widths. It was observed that the widening of steps has slight to no influence on humans’ pelvic

motion: humans still walked by pelvic drop, while chimpanzees by pelvic elevation. Therefore,

according to Kikel et al., the evolution of valgus knees, which leads to narrow steps, and human-

like pelvic list are not connected, though they appear simultaneously (p. 5).

I chose this article, firstly, because though human and chimpanzee bipedalism looks very

similar, the mechanism of it is very different: the way they swing their legs and hips looks

different. Looking into the article, I found out the exact anatomical differences, but the

evolutionary side of it made me even more invested in the article. Also, the terms used are

similar to what we are studying throughout the course. The take-home message of the article is

that three factors step width, and hip and pelvic motion might appear to be connected in terms of

evolution, but actually, they are not. Thus, finding out some of the evolutionary processes of

bipedalism and the still unknown reason for the human pelvic list were the first reasons for

picking this article.

Secondly, the argument of the article is valid because it was obtained through careful

information review, experiments, and calculations that helped in understanding the

biomechanical pattern of bipedalism. The methods section of the article clearly shows how
 3

results were derived: through “kinematic data collection”, “statistical comparisons using linear

mixed models”, and final calculations (which match the final conclusion of the research).

Moreover, the article was published in a peer-reviewed journal called “Scientific Reports”,

which adds to the credibility of the text. Therefore, this article provides good logical reasoning as

to why and how bipedalism’s biomechanism works.

Although the article is clear, there are some questions that are left to discuss. If pelvic list

and hip adduction (and valgus knees) were not evolved together, what was the first one to appear

in hominin structure? Considering that chimpanzees don’t habitually walk on two legs, what

significant benefits (as lower energy spending in humans) are there for their type of locomotion?

Also, in the article, it is mentioned that the limit of the research was the inability to alter the hip

morphology of the subjects, which can hinder the chance of getting more information about

bipedalism evolution (Kikel et al., 2020). Thus, are there some methods for further investigation

of this matter? If there are, what are they? And the biggest question is, what is the reason for the

human pelvic drop when walking?

 4

References

Kikel, M., Gecelter, R., & Thompson, N. E. (2020). Is step width decoupled from pelvic motion

in human evolution? Scientific reports, 10(1), 1-6. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-

020-64799-3