Human ancestors may have evolved to walk upright in trees

Having studied anthropology for a short while, there are many theories regarding the evolution of bipedalism. I'm sorry to say, as far as I understand it, they are all as flimsy as this one, in that they are barely based in empirical data. Not for a lack of trying, there just aren't any other species currently evolving bipedalism as far as we know.

This one, however, seems flawed on the basis of internal validity: what is the link between standing in trees and walking on the ground, let alone running? The fact that this is not immediately obvious means it raises a new question for which we have to invent more theories. Occam's razor says no.

If you find me dismissive, and you think surely the researchers have thought of this, I recommend having a look at the history of these theories, you'll notice their rise and fall seem more akin to fads than progress (much as predicted by Kuhn's Structure of scientific revolutions).

As the encyclopedia Britannica says: "There are many theories that attempt to explain why humans are bipedal, but none is wholly satisfactory."

I wanted to contribute that bipedalism appears to be deeply hardwired into the human brain.

I when these conversations come up, I like to remind myself of the “stepping reflex” that new born infants exhibit.

“Stepping reflex: This reflex is also called the walking or dance reflex because a baby appears to take steps or dance when held upright with his or her feet touching a solid surface. This reflex lasts about 2 months.”

Source: https://www.stanfordchildrens.org/en/topic/default?id=newbor...

Another indicator of how our earliest ancestors evolved living on trees. Studies found that just being around a tree improves people's psychology and general health.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/20...

Likely due to the same reason - we evolved on trees before moving onto land.

I was wondering, do we observe baby-like crawling in chimps or other mammals? I know lots of animals crawl but do baby chimps crawl the way humans do at any point in their development?

My theory is it resulted from persistence hunting. Walking upright has got to be more efficient than the crouch of apes.