Voluntary bipedal walking of infant chimpanzees |
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Authors: | T Kimura |
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Institution: | (1) Department of Morphology and Anthropology Primate Research Institute, Kyoto University, Inuyama, 484 Aichi, Japan |
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Abstract: | The voluntary bipedal walking of infant chimpanzees was studied by the analysis of foot force and by motion analysis. The
infants were trained to locomote on a level platform without any restrictions on the locomotor pattern. The voluntary bipedal
walking was compared with the other types of locomotion at the same age and with the trained bipedal walking performed by
other chimpanzees, including adult chimpanzees. The characteristics of voluntary bipedal walking in the infant until one year
of age were: (1) high-speed walking with short cycle duration; (2) short stance phase duration; (3) small braking component
of the preceding leg and large acceleration of the following leg; (4) one downward peak in the vertical component; and (5)
a relatively small transverse component. Bipedal walking usually continued for less than one second and ended in quadrupedal
locomotion. During walking, the preceding foot touched the floor, heel first, as in the case of older chimpanzees and humans.
At this age, bipedal walking was similar to high-speed locomotion. The voluntary bipedal walking of the two-year-old and frour-yearold
chimpanzees was characterized as follows: (1) slower speed than during quadrupedal locomotion, (2) relatively long periods
and distances; (3) well balanced accelerating and braking components; and (4) a vertical component showing two downward peaks
and a trough in between during numerous trials. The last characteristic means that the body center of gravity is higher in
the single stance phase, just as in the bipedal walkinbg of the adult chimpanzees and humans. The bipedal walking of infant
chimpanzees was discussed in comparison with the walking of humans, including infants. |
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