The Cellar - View Single Post

juju · 03-10-2002, 12:29 AM

Here's an actual pic of Lucy; about 40% of the skeleton was recovered.

Check out the femur.. see how it's angled towards the center of the body? That helps the hominid keep it's balance when standing. You can tell an amazing amount of things from just a few bones.

This pic is kind of a hodgepodge of different clues to bipedality.

The coolest part of it all I think are the hipbones. Check this out.

In order for humans to retain their center of balance when standing, they have to have a small birth canal. This forces babies to be born much earlier than normal so the head will be able to fit through the pelvis.

So, since human babies have only a very small percentage of their brains when born, they are completely helpless when born. This results in extremely long maturation rates compared to other animals. Also, since the baby is out of it's womb, it's brain is subjected to constant stimulus while growing -- resulting in higher intelligence. Not to mention the fact that the brain is now free to grow to be as large as it needs to be.

03-10-2002, 12:29 AM	#9
juju no one of consequence Join Date: Jun 2001 Location: Arkansas Posts: 2,839	Here's an actual pic of Lucy; about 40% of the skeleton was recovered. Check out the femur.. see how it's angled towards the center of the body? That helps the hominid keep it's balance when standing. You can tell an amazing amount of things from just a few bones. This pic is kind of a hodgepodge of different clues to bipedality. The coolest part of it all I think are the hipbones. Check this out. In order for humans to retain their center of balance when standing, they have to have a small birth canal. This forces babies to be born much earlier than normal so the head will be able to fit through the pelvis. So, since human babies have only a very small percentage of their brains when born, they are completely helpless when born. This results in extremely long maturation rates compared to other animals. Also, since the baby is out of it's womb, it's brain is subjected to constant stimulus while growing -- resulting in higher intelligence. Not to mention the fact that the brain is now free to grow to be as large as it needs to be. Last edited by juju; 03-10-2002 at 12:56 AM.