The last common ancestor shared by humans and chimpanzees was a skilled tree climber that moved up vertical tree trunks much like modern apes do.
Key Findings on Our Shared Ancestor
▫️Shared Traits: Research published by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences shows that early primates possessed high bone flexibility and extreme ankle flexion.
▫️Vertical Climbing: By studying movement patterns in animals like sooty mangabey monkeys, scientists found that vertical tree-climbing requires joint flexibility similar to that of chimpanzees.
▫️The Evolutionary Split: Humans and chimpanzees split into separate evolutionary paths about 6 million to 7 million years ago, but both inherited these strong arboreal skills.
Clues About Walking Upright
▫️Trees as Training Grounds: New observations of chimpanzees in open, dry habitats show they still spend significant time in trees.
▫️Early Bipedalism: While moving in the branches, these apes frequently stand and balance on two legs.
▫️Human Evolution: This behavior suggests that walking on two legs—known as bipedalism—might have started in the trees before our ancestors moved permanently to the ground.
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