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Re: Where are the zoologists?
Pat Dooley (patdooley@aol.com)
23 Dec 1994 01:17:53 -0500
>Umm, many species that we would call quadrupedal also include bipedal
>locomotion in their behavioural repetoirs. For example, bears, which
>walk plantigrade and are quadrupedal, also, on occassion, can move about
>bipedally. Chimps, which habitually employ knuckle walking, will also
>move about bipedally.
My cat could walk on two legs given enough incentive. It could also
swim, but it was very slow to learn that pooping on the carpet
earnt it a swim in the pool. Circus trainers can "teach" many mammal
species to walk on two legs. That is not bipedalism. There are no
structural changes to facilitate it. It is not the preferred mode of
locomotion. In quadrupeds or knuckle walkers it is inefficient.
Citing occasional two-legged walikng in mammals is a straw man
argument in its crudest form.
Pat D
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