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Full Version: 'Astonishing' fossil ape discovery revealed
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https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-50305423
Fossils of a newly-discovered ancient ape could give clues to how and when walking on two legs evolved.
The ability to walk upright is considered a key characteristic of being human.
The ape had arms suited to hanging in the trees, but human-like legs.
It may have walked along branches and even on the ground some 12 million years ago, pushing back the timeline for bipedal walking, say researchers.

Did this key characteristic of humans arise from an ape, much like the orangutan, that lived in the trees, or from a knuckle-walking ancestor, which spent most of the time on the ground, similar to a gorilla?

Did the origin off theses leg limbs result from an initial mutation that caused an ape to be born  with deformed legs and the genes were passed, however, was the trait advantageous because it allowed for the apes to move quickly both in the trees and on land protect those with the deformity from being out paced by predators.
If the trait was advantageous leading to creatures that could move upright on the ground and also move quickly on the trees, why then did humans evolve to walk totally upright and these creatures go extinct? Although walking upright saves more energy, being able to move both ways seems to me as a more better characteristic as it is just like getting the best of both worlds.