Acquisition of terrestrial life by human ancestors influenced by forest microclimate

Abstract Bipedalism, terrestriality and open habitat were thought to be linked to each other in the course of human evolution. However, recent paleontological evidence has revealed that early hominins evolved in a wooded, humid environment. Did the evolutionary process from arboreal to terrestrial l...

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Autor principal:	Hiroyuki Takemoto
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	Nature Portfolio 2017
Materias:	Medicine R Science Q
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/8b00b16e873b448690f2624245d9515c
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:8b00b16e873b448690f2624245d9515c2021-12-02T11:40:43ZAcquisition of terrestrial life by human ancestors influenced by forest microclimate10.1038/s41598-017-05942-52045-2322https://doaj.org/article/8b00b16e873b448690f2624245d9515c2017-07-01T00:00:00Zhttps://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-05942-5https://doaj.org/toc/2045-2322Abstract Bipedalism, terrestriality and open habitat were thought to be linked to each other in the course of human evolution. However, recent paleontological evidence has revealed that early hominins evolved in a wooded, humid environment. Did the evolutionary process from arboreal to terrestrial life actually require open habitat? Here I report the seasonal change in forest utilization height of West African chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) and central African bonobos (Pan paniscus), and show that the difference in terrestriality between these two species was mainly caused by ambient temperature differences between the two study sites. The key factor was the vertical structure of the microclimate in forests and its seasonality. The results suggest the possibility that human terrestrial life began inside a forest rather than in the savannah. Increasing seasonality and prolongation of the dry months throughout the late Miocene epoch alone could have promoted terrestrial life of our human ancestors.Hiroyuki TakemotoNature PortfolioarticleMedicineRScienceQENScientific Reports, Vol 7, Iss 1, Pp 1-8 (2017)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	Medicine R Science Q
spellingShingle	Medicine R Science Q Hiroyuki Takemoto Acquisition of terrestrial life by human ancestors influenced by forest microclimate
description	Abstract Bipedalism, terrestriality and open habitat were thought to be linked to each other in the course of human evolution. However, recent paleontological evidence has revealed that early hominins evolved in a wooded, humid environment. Did the evolutionary process from arboreal to terrestrial life actually require open habitat? Here I report the seasonal change in forest utilization height of West African chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) and central African bonobos (Pan paniscus), and show that the difference in terrestriality between these two species was mainly caused by ambient temperature differences between the two study sites. The key factor was the vertical structure of the microclimate in forests and its seasonality. The results suggest the possibility that human terrestrial life began inside a forest rather than in the savannah. Increasing seasonality and prolongation of the dry months throughout the late Miocene epoch alone could have promoted terrestrial life of our human ancestors.
format	article
author	Hiroyuki Takemoto
author_facet	Hiroyuki Takemoto
author_sort	Hiroyuki Takemoto
title	Acquisition of terrestrial life by human ancestors influenced by forest microclimate
title_short	Acquisition of terrestrial life by human ancestors influenced by forest microclimate
title_full	Acquisition of terrestrial life by human ancestors influenced by forest microclimate
title_fullStr	Acquisition of terrestrial life by human ancestors influenced by forest microclimate
title_full_unstemmed	Acquisition of terrestrial life by human ancestors influenced by forest microclimate
title_sort	acquisition of terrestrial life by human ancestors influenced by forest microclimate
publisher	Nature Portfolio
publishDate	2017
url	https://doaj.org/article/8b00b16e873b448690f2624245d9515c
work_keys_str_mv	AT hiroyukitakemoto acquisitionofterrestriallifebyhumanancestorsinfluencedbyforestmicroclimate
_version_	1718395594043555840

Acquisition of terrestrial life by human ancestors influenced by forest microclimate

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