Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Brief Communication
  • Published:

reply

Did our ancestors knuckle-walk?

Nature volume 410, page 326 (2001)Cite this article

Access through your institution
Buy or subscribe

Richmond and Strait reply

Dainton's argument that knuckle-walking may have evolved in parallel in Gorilla and the Pan/Homo ancestor is possible, but unparsimonious. Moreover, patterns of African-ape carpal growth1 do not provide an adequate test of knuckle-walking homology, given evidence that development does not always faithfully reflect homology2. Siamangs and gibbons differ in skeletal growth3, but no one disputes the homology of their suspensory specializations.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Access through your institution

Buy this article

  • Purchase on SpringerLink
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

References

  1. Dainton, M. & Macho, G. A. J. Hum. Evol. 36, 171–194 (1999).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Hall, B. K. (ed.) Homology: The Heirarchical Basis of Comparative Biology (Academic, San Diego, CA, 1994).

    Google Scholar 

  3. Jungers, W. L. & Cole, M. S. J. Hum. Evol. 23, 93–105 (1992).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Jenkins, F. A. J. & Fleagle, J. G. in Primate Functional Morphology and Evolution (ed. Tuttle, R. H.) 213–231 (Mouton, The Hague, 1975).

    Google Scholar 

  5. Lauder, G. V. in Functional Morphology in Vertebrate Paleontology (ed. Thompson, J. J.) 1–18 (Cambridge Univ. Press, Cambridge, 1995).

    Google Scholar 

  6. Tuttle, R. H. Am. J. Phys. Anthropol. 26, 171–206 (1967).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Roberts, T. J. et al. Science 275, 1113–1115 (1997).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. Hamrick, M. W. J. Theor. Biol. 201, 201–208 (1999).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Nakatsukasa, M. et al. Folia Primatol. 64, 1–29 (1995).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. Lanyon, L. E. J. Zool. 192, 457–466 (1980).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Oliwenstein, L. Science 269, 476–477 (1995).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  12. Latimer, B. M. & Lovejoy, C. O. Am. J. Phys. Anthropol. 82, 125–133 (1990).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Anthropology, University of Illinois, Urbana, 61820, Illinois, USA

    Brian G. Richmond

  2. Department of Anthropology, George Washington University, Washington, 20052, DC, USA

    Brian G. Richmond & David S. Strait

  3. Department of Anatomy, New York College of Osteopathic Medicine, Old Westbury, New York, 11949, USA

    David S. Strait

Authors
  1. Brian G. Richmond
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

  2. David S. Strait
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Brian G. Richmond.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Richmond, B., Strait, D. Did our ancestors knuckle-walk?. Nature 410, 326 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1038/35066638

Download citation

  • Issue date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/35066638

This article is cited by

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing