Type
Text
Type
Dissertation
Advisor
Jungers, William | Demes, Brigitte | Larson, Susan | O'Neill, Matthew | Orr, Caley.
Date
2015-05-01
Keywords
Functional Morphology, Human Evolution, Kinematics, Pedobarography, Primate Locomotion | Physical anthropology
Department
Department of Anthropology.
Language
en_US
Source
This work is sponsored by the Stony Brook University Graduate School in compliance with the requirements for completion of degree.
Identifier
http://hdl.handle.net/11401/76404
Publisher
The Graduate School, Stony Brook University: Stony Brook, NY.
Format
application/pdf
Abstract
The adoption of obligate terrestrial bipedality is believed to be the key transition that set early hominins on the path towards the development of advanced social systems and material culture. Critical to this transition was the evolution of a foot that is dramatically different from that of any other living primate. Numerous studies over the past century have investigated the feet of our closest living relatives, the non-human apes, as a means of understanding the evolutionary processes resulting in the modern human foot. None of these studies, however, has been able to quantify foot motion in a non-human ape in a controlled setting to achieve a detailed understanding of the foot function of these animals in vivo. To address this gap, I used a high-speed motion capture system to measure 3-D foot kinematics in two chimpanzees during locomotion on terrestrial and arboreal substrates. I also measured foot kinematics in both humans and chimpanzees during bipedal locomotion while simultaneously collecting pedobarographic data using a pressure-sensing platform. I used these data to address three objectives: 1) Determine the extent to which the chimpanzee foot is adapted for terrestrial versus arboreal locomotion, 2) assess interspecies differences in human and chimpanzee foot function, and 3) evaluate the relationship between foot kinematics and plantar pressure distributions in both species. My results indicate that the chimpanzee foot is a versatile structure, well-suited to both arboreal support grasping and proficient terrestrial locomotion via general stiffening of the midfoot joints, but with increased mobility of the ankle joint complex. Additionally, I found that the chimpanzee midfoot is less mobile overall during bipedal walking than that of humans, due to the absence of the dramatic joint rotations related to the function of the human longitudinal arch. These findings suggest that chimpanzee foot function makes a good model for that of the earliest hominins, who would have been adept at travel on the ground and in the trees. Later modifications to foot structure enhanced propulsive force production during bipedal locomotion, but at the expense of overall prehensility. | 178 pages
Recommended Citation
Holowka, Nicholas Baird, "Kinematics of the Chimpanzee Foot During Terrestrial and Arboreal Locomotion" (2015). Stony Brook Theses and Dissertations Collection, 2006-2020 (closed to submissions). 2327.
https://commons.library.stonybrook.edu/stony-brook-theses-and-dissertations-collection/2327