Infant Carrying Ruled Out As Reason Why Early Humans Walked Upright

Infant Carrying Ruled Out As Reason Why Early Humans Walked Upright, According To New Research

Scientists investigating the reasons why early humans -- the so-called hominins -- began walking upright say it's unlikely that the need to carry children was a factor, as has previously been suggested.

Walking upright has always been a big "Huh?" factor in our evolutionary path. How, what and why are still a bit fuzzy. Personally, I think scientists need to look real hard at that chromosomal fusion and what effects it had besides dropping our pair count.

One thing's for certain... walking upright led to our increased intelligence and eventual tool use. Besides freeing up two appendages for tool use, it had the unfortunate side effect of making us slow. We can't outrun a housecat, much less a predator in the wild. Same goes for hunting... chasing the lil bastards isn't gonna work. So it damn near forced us, rather quickly, to become smarter and start compensating for our shortcomings.