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Reply to: Reevaluating bipedalism in Danuvius

Nature volume 586, pages E4–E5 (2020)Cite this article

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The Original Article was published on 30 September 2020

replying to S. A. Williams et al. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-020-2736-4 (2020)

In the accompanying Comment1, Williams and colleagues question our interpretation of the evolutionary importance of extended limb clambering for the emergence of great ape suspension and hominin bipedalism2 by casting doubt on the morphological evidence for bipedalism in Danuvius. Specifically, they question the hip mechanics, the reported orthogonal set to the distal tibia and the evidence for a functionally elongated lumbar spine by re-interpreting the position of the diaphragmatic vertebra.

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Fig. 1: Transitional vertebra of Danuvius guggenmosi.

Data availability

The datasets generated during and/or analysed in this article are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

References

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Acknowledgements

We are indebted to V. Simeonovski for artistic reconstruction of the gait of Danuvius. We thank Williams et al. for their Comment on our original Article, and invite them to study the original Danuvius sample at any time.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Geosciences, Eberhard-Karls-Universität Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany

    Madelaine Böhme

  2. Senckenberg Centre for Human Evolution and Palaeoenvironment, Tübingen, Germany

    Madelaine Böhme

  3. National Museum of Natural History, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Sofia, Bulgaria

    Nikolai Spassov

  4. Department of Anthropology, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH, USA

    Jeremy M. DeSilva

  5. Department of Anthropology, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

    David R. Begun

Authors
  1. Madelaine Böhme
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  2. Nikolai Spassov
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  3. Jeremy M. DeSilva
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  4. David R. Begun
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Contributions

M.B., N.S., J.M.D. and D.R.B. performed and contributed to interpretation of analyses, and wrote the manuscript. The present author list includes only those authors of the original paper who have contributed substantially to the writing of this Reply, along with J.M.D. who joined as author after studying the original materials.

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Correspondence to Madelaine Böhme.

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Böhme, M., Spassov, N., DeSilva, J.M. et al. Reply to: Reevaluating bipedalism in Danuvius. Nature 586, E4–E5 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-020-2737-3

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  1. aquape

    Bipedalism & arborealism don't exclude each other: most Mio-Pliocene hominoids probably had vertical spines, not for running over open savannas as is still sometimes believed, but apparently for wading bipedally as well as climbing arms overhead in the swamp forests where Danuvius lived: "streams bordered by gallery forests meandered through the region". This vertical wading-climbing locomotion, known as "aquarborealism" (aqua=water, arbor=tree), evolved in early-Miocene hominoids who dispersed intercontinentally in mangrove & swamp forests north of the Tethys Ocean (today the Indian Ocean & the Mediterranean Sea): hylobatids (gibbons & siamang) as well as pongids (orangutans) live in SE.Asia, dryopith-like apes lived in Arabia, Anatolia & S-Europe (e.g. Danuvius), Pan & Gorilla live in Africa (connection Rift with Red Sea), and archaic Homo fossilized as far as Java & the island of Flores. For an update, google e.g. "Coastal Dispersal Pleistocene Homo PPT Verhaegen".

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