Research results that the last evolution of human lower body was 'toe'

It is said that only human beings are able to walk upright biped with creatures existing on the earth. Originally the monkey living on the tree descended to the ground in the course of evolution and walked with two feet, the body part that had been evolving to the latest was " foot toe " Research results have been reported.

Evolution and function of the hominin forefoot | PNAS
http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2018/08/07/1800818115

The research team led by Dr. Peter Fernandez of the University of Marquette 3D scanned and compared the bones of the feet from apes fossils to modern people. As a result, it turned out that the thumb hitting the toe of the foot had longer evolutionary span than other bones.

In order to walk biped, it is necessary first to evolve to adapt the bones of the foot to the biomechanical requirements of bipedal walking. The research team continued evolving to the present age to move efficiently on the ground, and he argued that the bones of the thumb of the foot got the rigidity to get the thrust while kicking the ground while supporting the weight It is. Dr. Fernandez says, "Modern people increased the stability of joints in order to attach their toes to the ground with upright bipedalism, but we lost the dexterity of grasping the tree branches."

It is still mysterious why humans ceased to live on tree and shifted to upright bipedalism is still enigmatic, "We stopped using hands as a means to have tools" "Forests are lost due to climate change A variety of theories such as "I moved from nature to holding with a branch with two arms and got standing" has been advocated. According to the results of this research that "the evolution of the thumb in the foot bones was the slowest", the early human foot structure did not fully adapt to upright bipedal walking, and the feet I understood that I was using.

The research team predicts, "Early human feet had various functions mixed", Dr. Fernandez said, "In order to characterize what changes have occurred along with the evolution of bipedalism I will do the same analysis for bones other than the thumb. "