The Evolution of the Primate Foot: Anatomy, Function, and Palaeontological Evidence
The Evolution of the Primate Foot: Anatomy, Function, and Palaeontological Evidence
English | 2022 | ISBN: 3031064356 | 810 Pages | PDF EPUB (True) | 55 MB
English | 2022 | ISBN: 3031064356 | 810 Pages | PDF EPUB (True) | 55 MB
The human foot is a unique and defining characteristic of our anatomy. Most primates have grasping, prehensile feet, whereas the human foot stands out as a powerful non-grasping propulsive lever that is central to our evolution as adept bipedal walkers and runners and defines our lineage. Very few books have compiled and evaluated key research on the primate foot and provided a perspective on what we know and what we still need to know. This book serves as an essential companion to “The Evolution of the Primate Hand” volume, also in the Developments in Primatology series. This book includes chapters written by experts in the field of morphology and mechanics of the primate foot, the role of the foot in different aspects of primate locomotion (including but not limited to human bipedalism), the “hard evidence” of primate foot evolution including fossil foot bones and fossil footprints, and the relevance of our foot’s evolutionary history to modern human foot pathology.