Elton S, Foley R, Ulijaszek S J
University of Cambridge, UK.
Ann Hum Biol. 1998 Nov-Dec;25(6):523-31. doi: 10.1080/03014469800006762.
Despite many studies on the energetics of terrestrial, aquatic and aerial locomotion, little work has been done on the costs of arboreal locomotion. There is increasing interest in modelling the bioenergetics of extinct mammalian species, including hominids, but as early hominids are thought to have combined terrestrial bipedalism with arboreal climbing and clambering, absence of data on the energetics of climbing in higher primates limits work on hominid locomotor energetics. In this study, the energetics of climbing and clambering in humans has been investigated to assess the differences in energetic cost between terrestrial bipedal walking and vertical climbing and clambering. Energy expenditure during climbing and clambering, walking and standing was measured in 29 active, non-obese young adults. Anthropometric data were also collected. Analysis using paired t-tests showed that there is a highly significant difference (p < 0.001) between mean walking and mean climbing and clambering expenditure, 24 +/- 7 versus 48 +/- 18 kJ/min respectively. Body mass, percentage body fat and fat-free mass were all positively correlated with energy expenditure. It was concluded that any energetic advantages that accrue from terrestrial bipedal locomotion may be offset by the great cost of arboreal activity, implying that the conditions under which bipedalism may have evolved were contingent upon the time allocation associated with arboreal and terrestrial locomotion.
尽管已经对陆地、水生和空中运动的能量学进行了许多研究，但关于树栖运动的成本却几乎没有开展相关工作。人们对模拟包括原始人类在内的已灭绝哺乳动物物种的生物能量学越来越感兴趣，但是由于早期原始人类被认为将陆地双足行走与树栖攀爬相结合，而缺乏关于高等灵长类动物攀爬能量学的数据限制了对原始人类运动能量学的研究。在本研究中，对人类攀爬和爬行的能量学进行了调查，以评估陆地双足行走与垂直攀爬和爬行之间的能量消耗差异。在29名活跃、非肥胖的年轻成年人中测量了攀爬和爬行、行走及站立过程中的能量消耗。还收集了人体测量数据。使用配对t检验的分析表明，平均行走与平均攀爬和爬行消耗之间存在极显著差异（p < 0.001），分别为24±7与48±18千焦/分钟。体重、体脂百分比和去脂体重均与能量消耗呈正相关。得出的结论是，陆地双足运动所带来的任何能量优势可能会被树栖活动的巨大成本所抵消，这意味着双足行走可能进化的条件取决于与树栖和陆地运动相关的时间分配。
