人类进化十大谜（之二）：我们为什么

直立行走？

fking86
于 2012-04-09 21:13:41 翻译 | 已有 956 人浏览 | 有 0 人评论

查尔斯•达尔文曾提出，我们的祖先为了制造工具而第一次直立起来。现在我们
知道这个说法不对。

Tags:进化 | 人类 | 直立行走

10 biggest puzzles of human evolution (2)：Why did we become bipedal?

Kate Douglas

CHARLES DARWIN suggested that our ancestors first stood upright to

free their hands for toolmaking. We now know that cannot be right
since the oldest tools yet discovered are a mere 2.6 million years
old, whereas the anatomy of hominin fossils reveals that bipedalism
emerged at least 4.2 million - and possibly even 6 million - years
ago.

The trouble with bipedalism, says Chris Stringer at the Natural

History Museum in London, is that proficient walking has many
advantages, but acquiring the skill requires anatomical changes, and
in the meantime you will be slow, clumsy and unstable. "It could have
begun in the trees," he suggests, pointing out that orang-utans and
 other primates walk upright along branches when feeding. This fits
with what we know about the lifestyle of the first bipeds but does
not explain why they evolved specialist anatomy. By 4 million years
ago, for instance, the tibia in the lower leg was held upright to the
foot, whereas it is angled to the outside in apes living now, even
those that spend the most time on two legs.

In a more compelling evolutionary explanation bipedalism would

substantially boost survival, which is why some people believe it
evolved to allow males to access more food so that they could help
feed their partners and offspring (Odyssey, vol 2, p 12). But this
idea presupposes a very early origin of monogamy, which the evidence
doesn't support, says Donald Johanson of Arizona State University in
Tempe, who in 1974 discovered Lucy, a 3.2-million-year-old, upright
Australopithecine. He points out that among early hominins, males
were much larger than females, which in primates is a sign that there
is competition rather than cooperation between the sexes.

"The real question is what were the benefits," says Johanson. One
possibility is that individuals who could wander further than others
had access to a wider variety of food sources, allowing them to live
longer and produce more surviving offspring. In addition, bipedalism
would have left their hands free to carry things and, being taller,
they may have been better at spotting predators. "There might have
been a whole package of advantages," he says, adding that bipedalism
may have emerged more than once.

All of which would have set the stage for a second phase of evolution
around 1.7 million years ago, when our ancestors left the forests for
the savannah. This is when the greatest anatomical changes took
place, with shoulders pulled back, legs lengthened and a pelvis
adapted to life on two legs.

There are many possible reasons why bipedalism took off at this
point. Walking upright might have helped individuals deal with the
scorching heat of the open grassland, allowing air to circulate
around the body while minimising direct exposure to the sun (Journal
of Human Evolution, vol 13, p 91). It would also have increased
mobility. "I think the argument comes down to travel efficiency and
travel distance," says Robin Dunbar at the University of Oxford.
Bipedalism allowed our ancestors to walk long distances, enabling
them to track down prey on the savannah. One study even suggests that
 we become adapted for endurance running (Nature, vol 432, p 345),
although modern couch potatoes may consider this idea a step too far.

人类进化十大谜（之二）：我们为什么直立行走？
原作：Kate Douglas | 2012 年 3 月 26 日

初译：focusyu，伊偶 kobe

bridee 校对

审译：fking86
查尔斯•达尔文曾提出，我们的祖先为了制造工具而第一次直立起来。现在我们
知道这个说法不对，因为目前发现的最早的工具仅有 260 万年的历史，但是人
类化石的分析表明，至少在 420 万甚至可能在 600 万年以前，人就直立行走了。

伦敦自然历史博物馆的克里斯•斯特林格（Chris Stringer）说，上述说法的问
题在于，虽然熟练直立行走有很多优势，但是获得这种能力需要身体构造的改
变，同时你会变得缓慢、笨拙，平衡能力差。 “直立可能在树上就开始了”，
他指出，猩猩和其他灵长类动物在喂食的时候会在树枝上站起来。这符合我们所
知的最早的两足动物的生活方式，但不能解释他们为 什么进化成这种特有的骨
骼。比如，400 万年前，猩猩的小腿胫骨就垂直地支撑在其脚面上，但是现在则
向外侧倾斜，即使那些经常站立的猩猩也是如此。

有一种颇有说服力的进化解释说，两足行走可以大幅度提高生存能力，因此一
些人认为，进化 成这样使得雄性可以获得更多食物，养活他们的伴侣和后代
（《奥德赛》第二卷第 12 页）。美国亚利桑那州立大学坦佩分校的唐纳德•约哈
森（Donald Johanson）说，这种说法的前提是一夫一妻制很早就出现了，但缺
乏足够的证据支持。唐纳德•约哈森曾于 1974 年发现了 Lucy，一个距今 320 万
年的更新纪灵长类直立动物。他指出，早期原始人群中的雄性个头远比雌性大，
在灵长类动物中，这一现象说明两性之间是竞争关系，而非合作关系。

约哈森说：“归根到底还是这有什么好处？”一种可能是，活动范围更宽就能
比别人获得更广泛的食物来源，寿命就更长，后代就更多。另外，两足行走得以
把手解放出来拿东西，并且个头更高了，更容易发现猎物。他说：“好处可能一
大堆，”并且两足行走可能反复出现过。

这一切为约 170 万年前的第二阶段进化做好了准备，那时我们的祖先离开森林

来到草原。也正是在这段时期，人类的身体构造发生了最伟大的变化——肩膀向
后伸展，双腿变长，骨盆适应了直立生活。

人类为什么在这个时候突然就直立行走，原因很多。在开旷的草原上直立行走可
以帮助人们更 好地对付炎热，空气得以绕身体流动，同时身体暴露于阳光的面
积最小（《人类进化杂志》第 13 卷第 91 页）。还增加了灵活性。牛津大学的罗
宾•顿巴 （Robin Dunbar）说：“我认为归根结底是活动效率和活动距离。”直
立行走使我们的祖先可以长距离行走，在草原上追踪猎物。一项研究甚至指出，
我们适应长距离 奔跑（《自然》第 432 卷第 345 页），不过对于成天坐在沙发上
看电视的人来说，这个说法有点离谱。