Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant: The Locomotor Ontogeny of Pan

这个项目的目标是记录黑猩猩从婴儿期到成年期的运动和解剖学发展。具体来说，运动行为随时间变化对骨骼解剖变化的影响程度将被研究。幼年黑猩猩在旅行时通常由母亲抱着，主要用上肢移动。相比之下，幼年黑猩猩完全靠自己移动，更多地依靠四足运动。随着年龄的增长，四足关节行走会增加。据预测，这些行为转变会导致解剖学上的相关变化，随着黑猩猩从婴儿期到幼年期的成熟，下肢骨强度和形状最初会增加。第二个变化是指节形态的变化，与指节行走的压力有关，随着个体年龄的增长和花更多的时间用四足行走，这种变化预计会发生。这个项目将把对野生黑猩猩的观察与博物馆里的骨骼测量和实验室里的分析结合起来。实地考察将在乌干达的基巴莱国家公园进行，以记录不同年龄的黑猩猩的运动行为。黑猩猩也将被拍摄，以分析运动模式内部和之间的个体表现差异。博物馆的黑猩猩骨骼将使用形态学测量、微型CT扫描和数码摄影进行分析。黑猩猩是人类现存的近亲，它们的行为可能包含了与我们祖先共有的元素。对黑猩猩运动如何影响骨骼形状的系统研究可能使我们能够识别由指关节行走、两足行走和悬空等行为引起的形态学特征。这些特征可以用来重建猿类和人类化石的运动行为，从而更好地理解人类是如何进化成两足动物的。结果有望阐明与几个研究领域相关的问题，包括功能形态学，骨骼生长和发育以及人类进化。

The goal of this project is to document how chimpanzee locomotion and anatomy develop from infancy through adulthood. Specifically, the extent to which changes in locomotor behavior over time influence changes in skeletal anatomy will be investigated. Infant chimpanzees are typically carried by their mothers when traveling and principally move using their upper limbs. In contrast, juvenile chimpanzees move entirely by themselves, relying more on quadrupedal locomotion. Quadrupedal knuckle walking increases as individuals age. These behavioral transitions are predicted to result in correlated changes in anatomy, with an initial increase in lower limb bone strength and shape as chimpanzees mature from infancy to juvenility. A second change, in knuckle morphology, related to the stress of knuckle-walking, is expected to occur as individuals age and spend more time moving quadrupedally. This project will integrate observations of chimpanzees in the wild with measurements of bones in museums and analysis conducted in the laboratory. Fieldwork will be conducted in Kibale National Park, Uganda, to document the locomotor behavior of chimpanzees of different ages. Chimpanzees will also be filmed to analyze individual variation in performance within and between locomotor modes. Chimpanzee skeletons from museums will be analyzed using morphological measures, micro CT scanning, and digital photography. Chimpanzees are our closest living relatives and their behavior likely includes elements shared with our ancestors. A systematic study of how chimpanzee movement affects the shape of bones may enable us to identify morphological features induced by behaviors such as knuckle-walking, bipedalism, and suspension. These features can then be used to reconstruct locomotor behavior in fossil apes and humans and provide a better understanding of how humans evolved into bipedal creatures. Results promise to shed light on problems relevant to several fields of study, including functional morphology, bone growth and development, and human evolution.