When our ancient ascendant left their arboreal plate , they ditched their flexible feet for rigid tootsies well fit for walking on the ground . But harmonise to a fresh written report , 1 out of every 13 people may have bendy , tree - quick foot , without even knowing it .
Though chimp feet may look pretty dissimilar from human feet , they actually retain similar osseous tissue structures . But there is a big conflict in the foot ligaments of humans and chimps , and this difference of opinion guides how pliant the foundation is .
Like chimp , humanity have junction in the midriff of our feet . But our ligaments are soused , keep our foot stiff . Our rigid midfoot likely acts as an efficient lever to propel us onwards as we walk . Pan troglodytes have easy ligament , making their feet more flexible for grasping object and branches .
In the novel study , Boston University anthropologist Jeremy DeSilva and occupational healer Simone Gill tested the midtarsal flexibleness of 398 hoi polloi , as they walk around barefoot at the Boston Museum of Science . They filmed the participant ’ feet up close and learn that 32 of them ( about 8 percent ) had midfoot flexibleness characteristic of a midtarsal break . These people also exhibited elevated pressures on the side of their midfoot as they walked , and had significantly flatter feet than the people without the midtarsal break .
The owners of the chimp - like feet did n’t know that there was anything different about their feet and did n’t in reality appear to take the air differently . But the differences were obvious to the researchers when they looked at the close - ups of the pes as they unrolled while walking .
In a yet - to - be - published analysis , Robin Huw Crompton of the University of Liverpool launch that people with midtarsal breaks may be even more common than DeSilva and Gill ’s work suggests , concord to New Scientist .
Comptom think that flexible feet may have always been a part of our metal money , but DeSilva believes otherwise . New Scientist explains :
He thinks flexible feet make walking less efficient – something he intends to try out . This would have been a disadvantage once our ancestors leave the trees . If so , he say , it is more probable the trait reappeared recently . “ My supposition is that we are mystify more version than ever before , perhaps because shoes have touch foot anatomy . ”
say more atNew Scientist , or check out the abstract of the study in theAmerican Journal of Physical Anthropology .
anthropologyEvolutionPrimatesScience
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