Re: Are the "mosaic theories" completely vaccuous?

From: Nick Maclaren (nmm1_at_cus.cam.ac.uk)
Date: 11/22/04 

Date: 22 Nov 2004 11:38:25 GMT

In article <k0bod.93806$Tq1.46019@bignews1.bellsouth.net>,
"deowll" <deowll@bellsouth.net> writes:
|>
|> So swinging from a tree by your arms is harmed by walking on your hind legs?
|> Did you ever look at a gibbon? They are the best at brachiating and on the
|> ground they are bipids.

Sigh. While gibbons do walk semi-bipedally on the ground (they
also often use their arms in various ways), their first reaction
to needing to move fast or far is to leave the ground and take to
the trees. They are only slightly more terrestrial than sloths.

Many animals use strange secondary methods of locomotion (typically
when movement is not a selective matter, or in environments they
rarely visit), and it doesn't have much evolutionary effect on
their physiology. Dogs, elephants etc. swimming is a prime example.

If a gibbon started to become more effectively bipedal, it would
need longer and heavier legs (and probably lighter arms), which
would indeed hinder brachiation.

Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

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