Irvine511
Blue Crack Supplier
[q]Walking on all fours with the ancestors
By Sam Lister
FIVE brothers and sisters who can only walk naturally on all fours are being hailed as a unique insight into human evolution, after being found in a remote corner of rural Turkey.
Scientists believe that the family may provide invaluable information on how Man evolved from a four-legged hominid to develop the ability to walk on two feet more than three million years ago.
A genetic abnormality, which may prevent the siblings, aged 18 to 34, from walking upright, has been identified.
The discovery of the Kurdish family in southern Turkey last July has triggered a fierce debate. Two daughters and a son have only ever walked on two palms and two feet, with their extended legs, while another daughter and son occasionally manage a form of two-footed walking. The five can stand up, but only for a short time, with both knees and head flexed.
Some researchers claim that genetic faults have caused the siblings to regress in a form of “backward evolution”. Other scientists argue more strongly that their genes have triggered brain damage that has allowed them to develop the unique form of movement.
But all agree that the family’s walk, described as a “bear crawl”, may offer invaluable information on how our ape-like ancestors moved. Rather than walking on their knuckles like gorillas and chimpanzees, the family are “wrist walkers”, using their palms like heels with their fingers angled up from the ground.
Scientists believe this may be the way hominids moved, allowing them to protect their fingers for the more delicate and dextrous manoeuvres so critical in the evolution of Man.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,3-2072832,00.html
[/q]
By Sam Lister
FIVE brothers and sisters who can only walk naturally on all fours are being hailed as a unique insight into human evolution, after being found in a remote corner of rural Turkey.
Scientists believe that the family may provide invaluable information on how Man evolved from a four-legged hominid to develop the ability to walk on two feet more than three million years ago.
A genetic abnormality, which may prevent the siblings, aged 18 to 34, from walking upright, has been identified.
The discovery of the Kurdish family in southern Turkey last July has triggered a fierce debate. Two daughters and a son have only ever walked on two palms and two feet, with their extended legs, while another daughter and son occasionally manage a form of two-footed walking. The five can stand up, but only for a short time, with both knees and head flexed.
Some researchers claim that genetic faults have caused the siblings to regress in a form of “backward evolution”. Other scientists argue more strongly that their genes have triggered brain damage that has allowed them to develop the unique form of movement.
But all agree that the family’s walk, described as a “bear crawl”, may offer invaluable information on how our ape-like ancestors moved. Rather than walking on their knuckles like gorillas and chimpanzees, the family are “wrist walkers”, using their palms like heels with their fingers angled up from the ground.
Scientists believe this may be the way hominids moved, allowing them to protect their fingers for the more delicate and dextrous manoeuvres so critical in the evolution of Man.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,3-2072832,00.html
[/q]
