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Re: bipedalism and AAH
Brad Woodcock (woodcock@taz.cecer.army.mil)
13 May 1995 23:19:51 GMT
I've only just started reading this newsgroup, so please forgive me if this
has been mentioned in the past, and, I admit it's a very small point,
overall, but the phalageal curvature argument for arboreality isn't a very
strong one. It has been found in several studies that curvature of that
type can be caused by soft tissue molding the bone. In addition, if the
ligaments that attach across the area are cut early on, the curvature
doesn't occur, which shows that it isn't a heritable trait (of course, that
is in living animals, not in the fossil specimens, it could possibly still
be a heritable trait in fossil specimens). Also, in a study by Nengo,
phalangeal curvature was shown to have no significant correlation with
arboreality.
Hmmmph. I hate it when other people do this, and I'm not happy about having
to do it myself, but I cannot find the references I have for this set of
information. I'll continue looking and hopefully post it later.
--
Brad Woodcock The Trolls Guild
woodcock@horus.cecer.army.mil "We're here to make you
brad-dorsai@nova.novanet.org appreciate normal people."
Work:(217)352-6511 x7590 Home:(217)344-0363
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