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Phalangeal curvature in a chimpanzee raised like a human: Implications for inferring arboreality in fossil hominins

Arboreal primates such as chimpanzees exhibit pronounced curvature in their hand and foot phalanges, which is assumed to develop throughout life in response to mechanical loads produced by grasping and hanging from branches. Intriguingly, ancient fossil hominins also exhibit substantial phalangeal c...

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Autores principales: Wallace, Ian J., Burgess, M. Loring, Patel, Biren A.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: National Academy of Sciences 2020
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7260939/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32393625
http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2004371117
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author Wallace, Ian J.
Burgess, M. Loring
Patel, Biren A.
author_facet Wallace, Ian J.
Burgess, M. Loring
Patel, Biren A.
author_sort Wallace, Ian J.
collection PubMed
description Arboreal primates such as chimpanzees exhibit pronounced curvature in their hand and foot phalanges, which is assumed to develop throughout life in response to mechanical loads produced by grasping and hanging from branches. Intriguingly, ancient fossil hominins also exhibit substantial phalangeal curvature, which, too, has been interpreted as a direct result of habitual arboreality during life. Here, we describe the phalangeal curvature of a chimpanzee who was raised during the 1930s in New York City to live much like a human, including by having very few opportunities to engage in arboreal activities. We show that the degree of hand and foot phalangeal curvature in this individual is indistinguishable from that of wild chimpanzees and distinct from humans. Thus, rather than being a direct effect of mechanical loads produced by lifetime arboreal activities, phalangeal curvature appears to be shaped largely by genetic factors. An important implication of this finding is that phalangeal curvature among fossil hominins is evidently best interpreted as a primitive trait inherited from an arboreal ancestral species rather than proof of engagement in arboreal activities during life.
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spelling pubmed-72609392020-06-08 Phalangeal curvature in a chimpanzee raised like a human: Implications for inferring arboreality in fossil hominins Wallace, Ian J. Burgess, M. Loring Patel, Biren A. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A Biological Sciences Arboreal primates such as chimpanzees exhibit pronounced curvature in their hand and foot phalanges, which is assumed to develop throughout life in response to mechanical loads produced by grasping and hanging from branches. Intriguingly, ancient fossil hominins also exhibit substantial phalangeal curvature, which, too, has been interpreted as a direct result of habitual arboreality during life. Here, we describe the phalangeal curvature of a chimpanzee who was raised during the 1930s in New York City to live much like a human, including by having very few opportunities to engage in arboreal activities. We show that the degree of hand and foot phalangeal curvature in this individual is indistinguishable from that of wild chimpanzees and distinct from humans. Thus, rather than being a direct effect of mechanical loads produced by lifetime arboreal activities, phalangeal curvature appears to be shaped largely by genetic factors. An important implication of this finding is that phalangeal curvature among fossil hominins is evidently best interpreted as a primitive trait inherited from an arboreal ancestral species rather than proof of engagement in arboreal activities during life. National Academy of Sciences 2020-05-26 2020-05-11 /pmc/articles/PMC7260939/ /pubmed/32393625 http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2004371117 Text en Copyright © 2020 the Author(s). Published by PNAS. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/This open access article is distributed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives License 4.0 (CC BY-NC-ND) (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/) .
spellingShingle Biological Sciences
Wallace, Ian J.
Burgess, M. Loring
Patel, Biren A.
Phalangeal curvature in a chimpanzee raised like a human: Implications for inferring arboreality in fossil hominins
title Phalangeal curvature in a chimpanzee raised like a human: Implications for inferring arboreality in fossil hominins
title_full Phalangeal curvature in a chimpanzee raised like a human: Implications for inferring arboreality in fossil hominins
title_fullStr Phalangeal curvature in a chimpanzee raised like a human: Implications for inferring arboreality in fossil hominins
title_full_unstemmed Phalangeal curvature in a chimpanzee raised like a human: Implications for inferring arboreality in fossil hominins
title_short Phalangeal curvature in a chimpanzee raised like a human: Implications for inferring arboreality in fossil hominins
title_sort phalangeal curvature in a chimpanzee raised like a human: implications for inferring arboreality in fossil hominins
topic Biological Sciences
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7260939/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32393625
http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2004371117
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