was bipedal

Here are pictures of the fully reconstructed Australopithicine, the second in comparison to humans and chimps: Enjoy

Indeed, and if we throw in Ardipithicus ramidus (Ardi) between them you can see a clear transition in the hips: with Ardi clearly in transition between chimps and AustralopithicusThe bones tell the story -- see The story of Bones and Dogs and Humans in Human Origins and Evolution.EnjoyEdited by RAZD, : link promoted versionEdited by RAZD, : photo link

Australopithicines were still able to climb according to some analists (for safety and sleeping possibly), but not as well as chimps. Even more in transition from arboreal to terrestrial habit is Ardipiticus ramidus (Ardi), who seemed about equally adapted to each habitat, but with clear adaptations for bipedal walking and wrists not made for knuckle walking.Enjoy

Last I saw there was some some controversy on this. I can't read that article with my limited sign-in.message me -- can you email a copy?We don't see knuckle walking with Ardi, and that is after the common ancestor date.*** update ***caffeine sent a link to the paper on line: Evidence that humans evolved from a knuckle-walking ancestor
and noted that it was 10 years old, and more recent analysis backs away from the knuckle walking, which jibes with my recollection of the controversy.I did a search on australopithicine knuckle walking? and found this update:

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Australopithecus

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The ancestors of gorillas and chimpanzees are suggested to have become more specialised in climbing vertical tree trunks, using a bent hip and bent knee posture that matches the knuckle-walking posture they use for ground travel. This was due to climate changes around 11 to 12 million years ago that affected forests in East and Central Africa, so periods occurred when openings prevented travel through the tree canopy, and at these times, ancestral hominids could have adapted the erect walking behaviour for ground travel. Humans are closely related to these apes, and share features including wrist bones apparently strengthened for knuckle-walking.[11]

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However, the view that human ancestors were knuckle-walkers is now questioned since the anatomy and biomechanics of knuckle-walking in chimpanzees and gorillas are different, suggesting that this ability evolved independently after the last common ancestor with the human lineage.[12] Further comparative analysis with other primates suggests that these wrist-bone adaptations support a palm-based tree walking.[12]

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So convergent evolution for chimp and gorilla knuckle walking and palm-based tree walking for Australopithicus.Palm-based tree walking has also been suggest for Ardi as explanation for development of bipedalism.

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Ardi Is a New Piece for the Evolution Puzzle

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... Her wrist, hand and shoulder bones show that she wasn't a knuckle walker and didn't spend much time hanging or swinging ape-style in trees. Rather, she moved along branches using a primitive method of palm-walking typical of extinct apes. "[Ardi is] a lovely Darwinian creature," says Penn State paleoanthropologist Alan Walker, who was not involved in the discovery. "It has features that are intermediate between the last common ancestor and australopithecines."

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caveat: that article is 8 years old.Enjoyps -- questions like this are why I love this place. Edited by RAZD, : update