Re: KNEES

Alex Duncan (aduncan@mail.utexas.edu)
29 Sep 1995 00:30:18 GMT

In article <hubey.812067818@pegasus.montclair.edu> H. M. Hubey,
hubey@pegasus.montclair.edu writes:

In most quadripeds the the bend at the knees is in the opposite direction
from humans; and the primates seem to be already close to human. What
could have caused this change? If we look at slowly changing from one
angle (most animals) to primates, somewhere in the middle of evolution
the whole leg would have to rotate 180 degrees and have the legs face
outwards or inwards, practically making the animals lame. Is this
explained by any theory, other than one that begs for catastrophic
changes (i.e. punctuated equilibrium) without really explaining anything.
Maybe they didn't need their legs at all during this time.