Fossil feet may be misleading scientists about human evolution

Wild monkeys in West Africa can climb vertical tree trunks using foot flexibility scientists did not realize they possessed. The discovery challenges a key assumption about what the last common ancestor of humans and chimpanzees looked like and how it moved. Fossil feet may be misleading scientists about human evolution.

Fossil feet may be misleading scientists about human evolution Science News from research organizations Fossil feet may be misleading scientists about human evolution Surprisingly agile monkeys are forcing scientists to rethink how the ancient ancestor of humans and chimpanzees may have climbed through the trees. Scott McGraw New research suggests that whatever scientists ultimately discover about the last common ancestor of humans and chimpanzees, one characteristic may be difficult to dispute: it was probably capable of climbing trees. Humans and chimpanzees went their separate evolutionary ways between 6 and 7 million years ago, when they diverged from the last common ancestor (LCA) they once shared.

Reconstructing that ancestor has become an important part of understanding human evolution, including the emergence of walking on two legs. One major question concerns where and how the LCA moved through forests. Did it spend much of its time among high horizontal branches, climb vertically from the ground, or combine both behaviors.

Rethinking What Feet Reveal About Climbing Chimpanzees are highly capable tree trunk climbers, aided by ankles that can flex much farther than human ankles.