• Question: why do we stand yp?

    Asked by orlaithennis to Naomi, Aggelos, Andrew, Eileen, Naomi, Shane on 14 Nov 2012. This question was also asked by sofiaa26.
    • Photo: Naomi Elster

      Naomi Elster answered on 14 Nov 2012:

      There are a few theories on this. One of the theories is that when we were evolving, at the very early stages, our ancestors spent longer in the water before coming onto land than other animals. The movement of the water would have made our bodies longer and more streamlined.

      It’s probably also about our environment as we were evolving. Evolution changes us to be as best equipped to deal with the world as we can be. Standing up tall would have helped us see further and run faster, which would have helped us hunt for food as well as escape danger. And, perhaps most useful of all, it meant that we didn’t need our hands for balance, keeping them free to make tools and eventually to operate technology.

    • Photo: Andrew Jackson

      Andrew Jackson answered on 15 Nov 2012:

      I agree with Naomi. Recently, biologists have shown that by running on two legs, and having not much hair on our body, hunter-gatherer humans (like our ancestors lived, and also how some tribes in Africa sill live) are really good at running long distances. So good that we can keep chasing an antelope until it overheats in the sun and collapses.. then we can kill it and feed ourselves. This kind of advantage is key to the process of evolution and one of the reasons why humans became both fully bipedal (walking on two legs) and why we lack hair.

    • Photo: Eileen Diskin

      Eileen Diskin answered on 16 Nov 2012:

      Standing up gives us an advantage over animals that crawl, or use all four of their legs to move. Walking meant that our hands were free, for things like collecting food, and killing animals with a bow and arrow.

      Now, its hard to imagine what life would be like if we weren’t standing up on two legs and had our 2 arms and hands free…just look around and see everyone texting on their mobiles as they walk down the road!

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