Evolution vs. Creation

In the on-going skunking tet-a-tet between scientists and creationists (the score, by the way, is now scientists 1,444,880,666 creationists 0) a new study has come out that may demonstrate one of the reasons bipedalism evolved from quadrupedal knucklewalking. There are at least two well known theories as to why this happen. First, the ability to carry hunting implements for scavenging purposes, this way food could be carried back to groups instead of eaten immediately upon finding the food. The second reason is safety, walking upright allowed for a longer line of sight so that big cats wouldn't bite their heads.

The University of Arizona study cites energy efficiency as another, more empirical reason. The study looked at data from a handful of chimps and a handful of adult humans as they walked on a treadmill. The chimp with the longest stride, therefore longest legs, was the most efficient upright walker. Study of fossil record of early hominins demonstrate the biological adaptation of longer hind legs which, in turn, would mean they would be efficient upright walkers. From the article,

"We and many others have found these adaptations [such as slight increases in hindlimb extension or length] in early hominins, which tells us that energetics played a pretty large role in the evolution of bipedalism.”