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Biological Sciences: Brachiation and the Early Evolution of the Hominoidea

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Abstract

A ONCE popular view among anthropologists was that many of the morphological features common to man and the living apes (especially the gorilla and chimpanzee) could be attributed to a shared evolutionary phase of brachiating locomotion. It was further plausibly suggested that such arboreal suspensory activity could have provided an excellent apprenticeship for the adoption of erect bipedal posture by the early terrestrial hominids.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Anatomy, St Bartholomew's Hospital Medical College, Charterhouse Square, London, EC1

    O. J. LEWIS

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  1. O. J. LEWIS
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LEWIS, O. Biological Sciences: Brachiation and the Early Evolution of the Hominoidea. Nature 230, 577–579 (1971). https://doi.org/10.1038/230577a0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/230577a0

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