Walking on two legs, known as bipedalism, began with our early ancestors around 6 million years ago. While early hominins began walking upright at that time, the evolution of a more human-like walking gait took millions of years. By around 4.4 million years ago, species like Ardipithecus ramidus exhibited early forms of bipedalism. Bipedalism is a crucial feature of hominins and modern humans.
How was walking invented?
Longer legs and comparatively shorter arms were first found in Homo erectus. These features have made it easier for present-time humans to walk, run and travel around the Earth.
The other striking feature of Homo erectus was the presence of exceptionally large brains as compared to the earlier hominins. Homo erectus also started crafting and using stone tools which are termed Acheulean implements. They used these tools for everyday tasks.
Why did humans start walking?
It is strongly believed that humans started to walk on two legs to get these benefits:
- Walking upright enabled humans to carry the stuff in their hands as walking on legs allowed free movements of hands.
- It made humans look much larger and more intimidating.
- It allowed humans to travel on landscapes efficiently and swiftly.
- It helped them locate their prey from a distance
- It is also believed that due to climate change and fewer trees available, early humans started to walk as an adaptive measure to climate change.
Where Did Walking Originate?
Humans developed the ability to walk upright on two legs over a long evolutionary period. Fossil records indicate that early human ancestors in Africa, such as Ardipithecus ramidus, started walking upright approximately 4.4 million years ago.
It was later down the line that humans learned to craft and use different tools made of wood and stones to use for everyday chores.
There is no clear evidence of when individuals started walking. But, archeologists can gather the fossil remains of ancient organisms. The study of the structure and shape of these fossil remains can give an idea to the scientist about the way the ancient creatures used to travel around
When Did Walking Begin?
According to Fossil records, humans started to walk 6 to 3 million years ago. Another study has shown the pattern of bipedalism in Africa around 4.4 million years ago.
What Was The Next Big Step?
For more than fifty years now, Walking has been used to raise money through awareness walks about social and medical issues. The concept of awareness walks got big in 1998, with the three days awareness walk for Breast Cancer.
Walking is the most popular form of exercise since the 1990s. It gives a lot of health benefits and protects humans from different diseases. Walking prevents anxiety, heart disease, diabetes, and heart trouble.
There are numerous forms of walking that humans around the world have introduced to test their limits of walking. These include power walking, race walking, Afghan walking, and speed walking.
When Did The Current Form of Walking Develop?
Scientists believe that the modern pattern of walking appeared around 1.8 million years ago. A particular species termed Homo erectus, started to walk like humans on two legs. The previous species including Ardi and Lucy group had strikingly different traits than modern human beings.
Despite having different traits these two ancient species have the characteristics and bone placements that indicate bipedalism in these ancient groups as well- which were present around 4 and a half million years ago.
Homo erectus is similar to modern humans in terms of its bone structure and bipedalism. Homo erectus had this toe push-off that we-the modern human beings- also possess. Shape and alignment of pelvic bones, the attachment of legs with the pelvis, and the joints of the legs- all facilitated bipedalism in Homo erectus which are now modern human beings.
Along with the greater hip support; strong knees, angled femurs, and curved spine structure also facilitated bipedalism in our ancestors.
Why Did Ancient Humans Begin Walking?
Walking on two legs seemed more intimidating to the ancient humans. Walking upright provided multiple benefits as well. It allowed humans to use their free hands for carrying stuff and their babies while walking. It has also enabled humans to cover wide landscapes in a short time.
What Were the Results of Humans Walking?
Walking upright on two legs has provided multiple benefits to human beings.
- The first one is the conservation of energy. It requires less energy to walk on two legs as compared to using all four appendages for moving around.
- Secondly it promotes multitasking. It has freed the hands of human beings. Humans can carry the stuff around in their hands while walking on two legs.
- It has also enabled humans to travel to larger areas in less time.
Who Came Up With the Word ‘Walking’?
The origin of the term ‘walking’ is unknown. It is believed that this term is made up of the merging of two or three different words. Historians say that the term ‘walking’ has Germanic and Old English roots. This term was used for the very first time in the early 1200s.
Has Any One Individual Been Identified as the Inventor of the Word ‘walking’, or the Action?
It is believed that the term ‘walking’ has roots in old English and Germanic. It originated by the merging of two or more words.
Walking was not invented by any individual. It is an evolutionary process. A study of fossil remains showed that our ancestors started to walk around 4.4 million years ago in Africa.
You might be interested in knowing the answers to other intriguing questions like who taught the first teacher, how many doors are there in the world, and what does NFS mean?
FAQs
Let’s have a look at some interesting questions that are frequently asked by the internet users
Related Questions
Almost 3 to 6 million years ago humans adopted the ape-like walking style and gradually shifted to the human-like walking style. This has been proved by the extensive study of the fossil record. These bone structures have changed greatly as the earlier bone structures facilitated climbing trees. The bone structure transitioned over time as humans used to walk upright most of the time.
Walking is not invented by any individual. It is believed to be the natural quality of most living beings. According to scientists, arthropods were among the first organisms that started ‘walking’ around hundreds of millions of years ago.
Dave Knust, an adventurer from the USA started his journey in 1970. Within four years, he completed his tour around the earth. With his name mentioned in the Guinness World Records, Dave is the first individual to complete this journey independently.
Scientists have no exact date of when humans evolved. No evidence is available on the pattern of mating and interaction between early humans. Therefore, we cannot tell exactly the name of the first person who walked on the face of the Earth.
Although Dave Knust is the first one who traveled around the whole Earth independently and explored different parts of the world.
CONCLUSION
Bipedalism or walking evolved around 4.4 million years ago and it is a characteristic of modern human beings.
Feel free to ask any questions. We would love to address your queries.
