In later stages, the foot would have moved away from these traits, although it may have retained the “grasping” ability with the big toe. In the first instance, the foot would have possessed more “ape-like” qualities with greater grasping abilities and flexibility, and notably an elongated midfoot region. In 1935 anatomy professor Dudley Morton proposed the modern human foot is the result of two distinct transitions. Huxley would make comparisons to gorilla feet and call out that while they were also inverted and possessed grasping tendencies, they also shared muscular similarities with the human foot. The quest to know ourselves begins in 1699 with an anatomical assessment of modern chimpanzees by Edward Tyson who labeled them quadrumanous, meaning all of their appendages were adapted to function as hands. What has emerged is a story of diversity in locomotion that supports a case for mosaic evolution making the story of the foot overall (not just ours) a remarkable one.Ī recent review article from researchers Ellison McNutt and colleagues tracks the literature on the evolution of the human foot. Understanding differences between our feet and those of other apes (both ancestral and contemporary), can give us clues into the changes that were necessary for bipedalism - and perhaps for bipedalism itself. It is after all linked to the pivotal development of bipedalism in our history. The bones that make up the feet represent a quarter of the human skeleton, and yet, despite comprising such a large percentage of the body, they have largely eluded us in the fossil record until recently. This is frustrating because it's clear that this story - the evolution of the human foot - has captivated us for hundreds of years.
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