The energy cost of locomotion

Sat, 24 Oct 2026 20:01:52 +0200

Let’s talk about: new hypotheses about the origins of Human’s bipedalism, investigated through the study of the energy cost associated with the bonobo’s locomoto repertoire.

Research question and objectives

The human lineage differs from other great apes in several ways, including its mode of locomotion: exclusive bipedalism, that is, moving exclusively on the two lower limbs. However, bipedalism is not unique to humans: it is also found in other animal species, although it takes different forms. Birds, for instance, are fully bipedal when moving on the ground 🐦‍⬛.
In our closest relatives, the great apes 🐒, the locomotor repertoire is diverse, including not only bipedalism but also other forms of locomotion, such as brachiation (suspension in trees), leaping, climbing, and quadrupedalism (moving on all four limbs, which can itself take different forms), with dynamic transitions between each mode (Senut 2002).
This complex locomotor repertoire reflects their arboreal habitat 🌳🌳🌳, which consists of discontinuous, flexible, and unstable supports. Yet, this arboreal environment also characterized the habitats of our hominin ancestors (the group comprising all species belonging to the human lineage, which diverged from the chimpanzee lineage at least 7 million years ago; Elton 2008).

Locomotion on What's Up Research?!

The energy cost of locomotion

Research question and objectives