Posted on 10/29/2011 2:43:28 PM PDT by SunkenCiv
"Studies looking at limb length have always concluded that a shorter limb, including in Neandertals, leads to less efficiency of movement, because they had to take more steps to go a given distance," says lead author Ryan Higgins, graduate student in the Johns Hopkins Center of Functional Anatomy and Evolution. "But the other studies only looked at flat land. Our study suggests that the Neandertals' steps were not less efficient than modern humans in the sloped, mountainous environment where they lived."
Neandertals, who lived from 40,000 to 200,000 years ago in Europe and Western Asia, mostly during very cold periods, had a smaller stature and shorter lower leg lengths than modern humans. Because mammals in cold areas tend to be more compact, with a smaller surface area, scientists have normally concluded that it was the region's temperature that led to their truncated limbs compared to those of modern humans, who lived in a warmer environment overall.
However, Higgins' group adds a twist to this story. Using a mathematical model relating leg proportions to angle of ascent on hills, he has calculated that Neandertals on a sloped terrain would have held an advantage while moving compared to their long-legged cousins, the modern humans. Because the area Neandertals inhabited was more mountainous than where modern humans tended to live, the researchers say that this assessment paints a more accurate picture of the Neandertals' efficiency of movement as compared to humans. "Their short lower leg lengths actually made the Neandertals more adept at walking on hills," explains Higgins.
(Excerpt) Read more at sciencedaily.com ...
This article makes them sound like dwarves out of a Tolkien book. Weren’t they more similar to the vikings?
This explains their extinction.
I postulate that one of their short legs was shorter than the other—from humping the hills.
When they came down to flatlands, they stumped around in a circle until they starved to death.
(I expect credit for this theory.)
I wonder if the Side Hill Wampus is related to the Vari-legged Jackalope of the Paleolithic Texas Hill Country. It resembled a large jackrabbit mated to an antelope.
The Jackalope had legs on one side that were longer than the legs on the other side. As a result, they could run up hills in a circular manner, leaving distinctive spiraling paths worn into the hills over time.
Alas, the Jackalope was destined for extinction. They were one of Nature’s experiments that failed the test of evolution because having once attained the crest of a hill due to the perfect conformation of its physical parts for that particular job, they could find no way to retreat down the hill and expired on the crest.
I’m sorry but I couldn’t help it......
a short legged Neanderthal named nick
couldn’t help stepping on his prick
to save him this trouble
he bent it up double
and no longer fears it a lick
Your sisters were 5’12” and your horses were 14 hands 4 inches:)
I thought Cro-Magnons and Neanderthals had been proven to be species apart from man by DNA testing?
Basket ball players spend lots of time on flat surfaces so their legs grew longer (and their pants grew shorter).
Nope.
;’)
Hey, who doesn’t? ;’)
:’D
They were a bit stockier than living folks are, had a bigger brain case, made their clothing, fished, hunted, cooked food, etc etc. :’)
You’ve touched it — the likelihood is, Neandertal females had babies with Cro-Magnon males, it probably wouldn’t have worked the other way.
They didn’t farm.
63” tall, 32” inseam.
Ain’t got that problem.
:-P
Most recent testing show that European and most Asians are 2-4% Neanderthal DNA.
Africans have none.
I think they're Neandersmalls
Sure, but you ambushed that dog! ;’)
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