All Topics  
Knuckle-walking

 

 
   Email Print
   Bookmark   Link
 

 

Knuckle-walking
 
 
  Topics Knuckle-walking Topic Home

Gorilla
Gorilla

Gorillas are the largest of the living primates. They are ground-dwelling herbivores that inhabit the forests of Africa. Gorillas are divided into two species and either four or five subspecies....
s, and chimpanzee
Chimpanzee

Chimpanzee, sometimes colloquially known as a chimp, is the common name for the two Extant taxon species of ape in the genus Pan where the Congo River forms the boundary between the native habitat of the two species:...
s, use a style of locomotion
Locomotion

The term locomotion means movement or travel. It may refer to:* Motion * Animal locomotion** Terrestrial locomotion* TravelLocomotion may refer to specific types of motion:...
 called knuckle-walking, where they walk on all fours with the fingers of their forelimbs held in a partially flexed posture, putting pressure on their knuckle
Knuckle

The knuckles are the joints of the fingers and toes, which are brought into prominence when the hand is clenched and a fist is made. The word is derived from the diminutive of a word for bone, found in German language Knochen/Kn?chlein....
s. Weight is borne on the back of the intermediate phalanges
Intermediate phalanges

Intermediate phalanges are bones found in the Limb s of most vertebrates. In humans, they are the bones of the finger and toe which lie in the middle, between the two wrinkly joints....
 of the hand and the metacarpophalangeal joints are hyperextended.






Discussion
Ask a question about 'Knuckle-walking'
Start a new discussion about 'Knuckle-walking'
Answer questions from other users
Full Discussion Forum



Encyclopedia


Gorilla Kiktajm
Gorilla
Gorilla

Gorillas are the largest of the living primates. They are ground-dwelling herbivores that inhabit the forests of Africa. Gorillas are divided into two species and either four or five subspecies....
s, and chimpanzee
Chimpanzee

Chimpanzee, sometimes colloquially known as a chimp, is the common name for the two Extant taxon species of ape in the genus Pan where the Congo River forms the boundary between the native habitat of the two species:...
s, use a style of locomotion
Locomotion

The term locomotion means movement or travel. It may refer to:* Motion * Animal locomotion** Terrestrial locomotion* TravelLocomotion may refer to specific types of motion:...
 called knuckle-walking, where they walk on all fours with the fingers of their forelimbs held in a partially flexed posture, putting pressure on their knuckle
Knuckle

The knuckles are the joints of the fingers and toes, which are brought into prominence when the hand is clenched and a fist is made. The word is derived from the diminutive of a word for bone, found in German language Knochen/Kn?chlein....
s. Weight is borne on the back of the intermediate phalanges
Intermediate phalanges

Intermediate phalanges are bones found in the Limb s of most vertebrates. In humans, they are the bones of the finger and toe which lie in the middle, between the two wrinkly joints....
 of the hand and the metacarpophalangeal joints are hyperextended. Orangutan
Orangutan

The orangutans are a species of Hominidae. Known for their intelligence, they live in trees and they are the largest living arboreal animal. They have longer arms than other great apes, and their hair is reddish-brown, instead of the brown or black hair typical of other great apes....
s practice a variation of knuckle-walking called fist-walking, bearing weight on the back of the proximal phalanges
Proximal phalanges

Proximal phalanges are bones found in the limbs of most vertebrates. In humans, they are the bones at the base of a toe or finger, the prominent, knobby ends of which are often called the knuckles....
 instead.

Giant anteaters
Giant Anteater

.The Giant Anteater, Myrmecophaga tridactyla, is the largest species of anteater. It is found in Central America and South America. It is the only species in the Myrmecophaga genus....
 and platypus
Platypus

The Platypus is a semi-aquatic mammal Endemic to Eastern states of Australia, including Tasmania. Together with the four species of echidna, it is one of the five extant species of monotremes, the only mammals that lay Egg instead of giving birth to live young....
 are also knuckle-walkers. Pangolin
Pangolin

Pangolins or scaly anteaters or Trenggiling are mammals in the Scientific classification Pholidota. There is only one extant family and one genus of pangolins, comprising eight species....
s also sometimes walk on their knuckles. The chalicothere
Chalicothere

Chalicotheres were a group of odd-toed ungulate mammals that evolved in the mid Eocene around 40 million years ago from small, forest animals similar to the Hyracotheriums....
s were large prehistoric knuckle-walkers that looked something like at cross between a horse
Equidae

Equidae is the Taxonomy Family of horses and related animals, including the extant horses, donkeys, and zebras, and many other species known only from fossils....
 and a gorilla. The ground sloth
Ground sloth

Ground sloths are a diverse group of extinct sloths, mammals in the edentate superorder Xenarthra. They may have died out as recently as 1550 AD in Hispaniola and Cuba, but had long since been extinct on the mainland of North America and South America....
s may have also walked on their knuckles.

Knuckle-walking tends to evolve when the fingers of the forelimb are specialized for tasks other than locomotion on the ground. In the gorilla the fingers are used for the manipulation of food, and in chimpanzees for the manipulation of food and for climbing. In anteaters and pangolins the fingers have large claws for opening the mounds of social insects. Platypus fingers are extensively webbed for swimming.