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Asked by Science Genie to Maheen, Deborah on 21 Jun 2016.
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Maheen Siddiqui answered on 21 Jun 2016:
Hi Science Genie,
To answer your question about why we can’t walk on four legs, its an interesting question! We believe that humans evolved from apes and apes knuckle-walk on all fours. Scientists actually conducted a study where they did some measurements on a chimp that they put on a treadmill. They actually found that it took up less energy to walk on two feet than all fours! I suppose this is why during the course of evolution we started walking on two legs than all fours.. but I’m not entirely sure!
Secondly, babies learn to walk quite slowly and they pick up cues from the people they see around them walking. When they are around 5-10 months old, they start to gain strength in their muscles and gain control over their motor cortex as well, which means they can control some movement. So they try to start balancing or bouncing. As they are able to gain more strength in their muscles and their balance and coordination improves, they are able to walk!
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Deborah Prunty answered on 21 Jun 2016:
Our bodies have evolved for us to walk on two legs. Our spine, pelvis, hips and shoulders are designed for walking on two legs, as have our arms, legs, hands and feet.
Walking on two legs gave us the advantage of freeing up our arms and hands for other things.
Walking on two legs is also really energy efficient. The pendulum motion of our bodies, swinging our arms, shoulders and the rotation of our hips mean that once we get started moving our steps use much less energy than if we were on four legs.
I don’t know much about babies and how they develop I’m afraid.
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