Lateral sequence walking in infant Papio cynocephalus: Implications for the evolution of diagonal sequence walking in primates

Liza J. Shapiro · David A. Raichlen

112 citations0/0 files storedAmerican Journal of Physical Anthropology

No readable copy stored yet — this record is metadata only.

No open-access location is known for this record yet.

Literature note Cite in a project Citation map

Primate Behavior and Ecology Evolution and Paleontology Studies Robotic Locomotion and Control

Abstract

One of the most distinctive aspects of primate quadrupedal walking is the use of diagonal sequence footfalls in combination with diagonal-couplets interlimb timing. Numerous hypotheses have been offered to explain why primates might have evolved this type of gait, yet this important question remains unresolved. Because infant primates use a wider variety of quadrupedal gaits than do adults, they provide a natural experiment with which to test hypotheses about the evolution of unique aspects of primate quadrupedalism. In this study, we present kinematic data on two infant baboons (Papio cynocephalus) in order to test the recent hypothesis that diagonal sequence, diagonal couplets walking might have evolved in primates because their limb positioning provides stability in a small branch environment (Cartmill et al. [2002] Zool J Linn Soc 136:401-420). To assess hindlimb position at the moment of forelimb touchdown, we measured hindlimb angular excursion and ankle position for 84 walking strides, across three different types of gaits (diagonal sequence, diagonal couplets (DSDC); lateral sequence lateral couplets (LSLC); and lateral sequence diagonal couplets (LSDC)). Results indicate that if a forelimb were to contact an unstable substrate, LSLC walking provides as much, and perhaps more, stability when compared to DSDC walking. Therefore, it appears that this moment in a stride was unlikely to be a particularly important selective factor in the evolution of DSDC walking. Further insight into this issue will likely be gained by observations of primate quadrupedalism in natural environments, where the use of lateral sequence gaits might be more common than currently known.

Paper brief

Loading…

Cite this work

Citation unavailable for this work.

BibTeX RIS CSL-JSON

No public copy is stored for this record, so only the metadata is cited.

Citations in this library

Citation map →

Stored only when both papers are in the corpus — 112 citations exist upstream.

References

1979Environment, behavior, and morphology: dynamic interactions in primates 1994The kinetics of primate quadrupedalism: "hindlimb drive" reconsidered 1967Symmetrical gaits of primates 2002Origins of primate locomotion: Gait mechanics of the woolly opossum 2000Uniqueness of primate forelimb posture during quadrupedal locomotion 1989Primate Locomotion: Utilization And Control Of Symmetrical Gaits 1998Unique Aspects of Quadrupedal Locomotion in Nonhuman Primates 1977Positional behaviour of olive baboons (Papio anubis) and its relationship to maintenance and social activities

Cited by

2007Gait parameter adjustments of cotton‐top tamarins (Saguinus oedipus, Callitrichidae) to locomotion on inclined arboreal substrates 2006Stability, limb coordination and substrate type: the ecorelevance of gait sequence pattern in primates 2011Weight support distribution during quadrupedal walking in Ateles and Cebus 2018Comparison of spatiotemporal gait characteristics between vertical climbing and horizontal walking in primates 2005Hind limb proportions and kinematics: are small primates different from other small mammals?

Explore the map →

Papers that cite the same references — the relational fallback while embeddings are still backfilling.

Imported from OpenAlex (CC0) — nothing here is generated.