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Notes on video lecture:
Hominid Bipedality
Choose from these words to fill the blanks below:
effective, flat, anterior, upright, hamstring, climb, locomotion, pelvis, gravity, weight, femura, close, tibia, ankle, predation, locomotion, Hominidae, orangutans, consequences, bluff, carry, lordosis, musculature, maximus, efficiency, abdomen, walking, magnum, specialization, vertical, skeleton
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humans walk               
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walking up a hill, you realize one of the                          of that
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we're able to walk relatively efficiently
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this has compromises for other forms of                     
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we're not especially good at climbing
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we've descended from a mammal that are especially good at:
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climbing
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good at walking quadrupedally
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as hominids, we took a different pathway
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which had consequences for our                 
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changes in our skeleton due to adaptation to bipedality
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big toes in line with other toes
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that's a                              so that we can toe off with each step directing our energy forward
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the major element of our propulsion during our walking
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longitudinal arch
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allows us to capture forward motion energy and spring it back into the next step
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an specialized           
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much better for moving back and forth than making our feet            side to side to e.g. grasp around branches
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specialized knees
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instead of our femur sitting on top of our            as a column
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our femus is angled
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each time we put our weight on one leg, we need to put our center of                over the foot that supports us
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hip joint including femur and pelvis
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our pelvis has blades which wrap around and create a basin which supports our               
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in our relatives, these are relatively         
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humans have a very large muscle in the back side called the gluteus               
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this is actually a minor muscle in other kinds of primates
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in hominids, this muscle allows us to powerfully extend our legs
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if you are climbing a set of stairs of climbing, you'll feel those muscles working and getting tired
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in humans the change in orientation of our pelvis makes us use that muscle
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in primates, who have a very differently shaped             , they use the hamstring muscles more than their gluteus maximus
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the                    muscles are the muscles that a sprinter uses to start in the starting blocks
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primates use it all the time because their bodies are in that stance habitually
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in hominids, we carry our weight upright
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as a consequence, the hamstring muscles are not especially                    for us unless our bodies are bending over
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but when we walk and especially when we walk upwards, we are exercising our gluteus maximus
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spine
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in order reorient ourselves to a                  posture, we have a curavture of the lower spine
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Lumbar                 
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each of Lumbar vertebrae are angled somewhat to the next
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to allow the architecture of our spine to carry our body upright
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we haven't changed the angle of our pelvis relative to the ground
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what we've changed is the anatomy of that pelvis in such a way that a primate-like pelvic carriage is operating in a bipedal stance
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the head
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in the base of the head, the foramen             
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the hole in the base of the skull through which the spinal cord passes
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is relatively                 , toward the front, because we have a vertical carriage of our head
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in other kinds of primates, that have a more inclined or even horizontal spine posture during                     , the foramen magnum is more toward the back of the skull
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bipedalism is similar and different in humans and other                   
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we think of bipedality as part of human adaptation today
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if you think of chimpanzees,                     , and other apes, they are all able to walk bipedally
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they use bipedal locomotion as part of their repertoire when they are on the ground
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all of them can            objects in both hands and move around this way
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but they do it a little differently than we do
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the architecture of their pelvis and the                        of their legs are not well adapted to having their weight supported as a straight up-and-down column
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yet this is very efficient for humans
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we are able to stand for long periods of time with relatively little muscle action
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if they are going to be upright, they are going to have to have a bent knee
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they have to maintain their              at an angle relative to their pelvis so their muscles have leverage
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they have to walk with a bent knee gait
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this gets tiring after awhile
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humans, however, are able to maintain an upward gait
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with great energy                     
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what led our ancestors to abandon the ability to move fast on all fours and to            fast into through trees
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advantage of efficiency
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we are able to stand for long periods of time
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walk at a normal walking pace for long periods of time
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with great efficiency
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it doesn't take us very much muscle action in order to maintain a normal                pace
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with each step when we push off with our toe, our leg swings forward
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that swinging is a pendulum
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gravity is doing most of the work to move our leg forward
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all I have to do for each step is to fire my leg forward a little bit to start the swing forward
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and transfer the              of my body
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allow my body to fall forward, and then push off with the toe of the other foot
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this forward movement is not costing me much energy at all
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advantage for having head high
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having our eyes and ears higher up above the ground was an advantage
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one advantage in                    is how big you are, how tall you stand, and how big you appear
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a small bit of            might make a difference
Rising Star Expedition - Fall 2013
Savanna Chimpanzees
The Molecular Clock
What is Biological Evolution?
The Place of Ardipithecus
Hominid Bipedality
Early Hominins
Hominin Species and Speciation
The Laetoli Footprints of Australopithecus afarensis