Experimental Studies on Primate Locomotion

一百多年来，人类学家、比较解剖学家 古生物学家从化石记录中寻找证据 和从;非人灵长类动物的形态学研究， 去理解人类祖先是如何，为什么，以及何时 变成了习惯性的两足动物 在这一奋进的早期， 这个问题的答案似乎是， 人类祖先的臂举或摆臂练习 使他们倾向于两足行走。 最近 关于猿类自然行为的信息几乎不能支持 对于这一理论，必须进行新的尝试来发现 可能的行为形式，其中产生了人类。 以来 化石记录目前提供的数据有限， 直接在这个问题上，和数据确实存在导致了 对这些阶段的矛盾解释， 最早期的人类通过他们的道路， 两足动物，重点必须放在确定功能 意义：（1）表征骨的骨学特征 最古老的原始人类化石，（2）人类之间的解剖学相似性 和非人类灵长类动物，以及（3）那些解剖学特征， 是人类独有的 肌肉功能的具体假设，以及 骨骼变化可能影响这种功能的方式， 只能通过体内生理技术进行测试。 拟议的研究将应用遥测记录肌肉 活动（适当时与力-位置和 运动学分析）在非人灵长类动物在定期树栖动物 运动行为、地面运动和两足行走 以确定单个肌肉在这些运动中的实际作用， 行为。通过这样做，可以更好地了解 可能已经预先适应或倾向于人类祖先 bipedality是寻求。 同样的方法将应用于 人类在广泛的范围内对独特的人类肌肉进行研究 两足动物的活动。 非人灵长类动物和 人类将提供一个更健全的基础， 肌肉附着、方向和大小的差异， 从早期人类骨骼的化石证据中推断出 结构

For over a hundred years, anthropologists, comparative anatomists and paleontologists have sought evidence from the fossil record and from; studies on the morphology of nonhuman primates in order to understand how, why, and when the ancestors of living humans became habitual accomplished bipeds. Early in this endeavor it seemed that the answer to this question ;might be that the practice of brachiation, or arm-swinging, by human ancestors preadapted and predisposed them for bipedalism. Recent information on the natural behaviors of apes lend little support to this theory, land new attempts must be made to discover the probable behavior of the form which gave rise to humans. Since the fossil record currently provides limited data bearing directly on this question, and the data which do exist have led to contradictory interpretations about the stages through which the earliest humans passed on their path to becoming accomplished bipeds, emphasis must be placed on determining the functional significance of: (1) osteological features characterizing the oldest fossil hominid, (2) anatomical similarities between humans and nonhuman primates, and (3) those anatomical traits that are unique to humans. Specific hypotheses of muscle function, and the ways in which bony changes might influence such function, can only be tested by in vivo physiological techniques. The proposed study will apply telemetered recording of muscle activity (combined, when appropriate, with force-place and kinematic analyses) in nonhuman primates during regular arboreal locomotor behavior, terrestrial movement, and bipedalism in order to establish the actual roles of individual muscle in these behaviors. In so doing, a better understanding of changes that might have preadapted or predisposed a human ancestor for bipedality is sought. The same methodology will be applied in humans to a study of uniquely human muscles during a wide range of bipedal activities. Combined data nonhuman primates and humans will provide a sounder basis for interpreting the differences in muscle attachment, orientation, and size that can be deduced from fossil evidence of early hominid skeletal structure.