Hunter College, City University of New York, New York Consortium for Evolutionary Primatology, New York, NY 10065, USA.
Curr Biol. 2017 Jun 19;27(12):R613-R621. doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2017.05.031.
The evolutionary pressures shaping humans' unique bipedal locomotion have been a focus of research since Darwin, but the origins of humans' economical walking gait and endurance running capabilities remain unclear. Here, I review the anatomical and physiological determinants of locomotor economy (e.g., limb length and posture) and endurance (e.g., muscle volume and fiber type) and investigate their development in the hominin fossil record. The earliest hominins were bipedal but retained ape-like features in the hind limb that would have limited their walking economy compared to living humans. Moreover, the evolution of bipedalism and the loss of the forelimbs in weight support and propulsion would have reduced locomotor endurance in the earliest hominins and likely restricted ranging. Australopithecus evinced longer hind limbs, extended limb posture, and a stiff midfoot, suggesting improved, human-like economy, but were likely still limited in their endurance compared to modern humans. The appearance of skeletal traits related to endurance (e.g., larger limb joints, spring-like plantar arch) in Homo was somewhat mosaic, with the full endurance suite apparent only ∼1 million years ago. The development of endurance capabilities in Homo appears to parallel the evolutionary increase in brain size, cognitive sophistication, and metabolic rate.
自达尔文以来，塑造人类独特双足运动的进化压力一直是研究的焦点，但人类经济行走步态和耐力跑步能力的起源仍不清楚。在这里，我回顾了运动经济性（例如，肢体长度和姿势）和耐力（例如，肌肉体积和纤维类型）的解剖学和生理学决定因素，并研究了它们在人科化石记录中的发展。最早的人类是两足动物，但在后肢仍保留着类似猿类的特征，这使得它们的行走经济性与现代人类相比受到限制。此外，两足动物的进化和前肢在重量支撑和推进方面的丧失，会降低最早人类的运动耐力，可能限制他们的活动范围。南方古猿表现出更长的后肢、伸展的肢体姿势和僵硬的中足，这表明它们的经济性得到了改善，类似于人类，但与现代人类相比，它们的耐力可能仍然有限。与耐力相关的骨骼特征（例如，更大的肢体关节、类似弹簧的足弓）在 Homo 中出现有些镶嵌，完整的耐力套件仅在约 100 万年前出现。在 Homo 中，耐力能力的发展似乎与大脑大小、认知复杂性和代谢率的进化增加平行。
