Walking on all fours...?

Question

Were humans originally made to walk on all fours, but after years and years of evolution we started to walk on two legs?

Answer 1

The earliest absolute evidence of bipedalism (2 legs) comes from Australopithecus afarensis, who lived about 4 million years ago. Every hominid species since then has been fully bipedal. The idea of a "hunched over" cave man is a myth, and comes from improper reconstruction of a Neandertal skeleton in the 1800s.

Our closest living relatives (chimps, etc.) practice a specialized form of quadrupedalism called knuckle-walking, which likely developed after hominids split. Therefore, our pre-hominid ancestors probably practiced palmigrady, which is normal palms-flat 4-legged walking. The earliest apes from the fossil record show this type of locomotion.

Answer 2

It depends on what you mean by human, and walking on all fours. The first creatures that are classified as genus Homo walked on two legs. Previously, some of our ancestors shifted from strict four legged walking to the knuckle walking seen in the other great apes.

Answer 3

well sorta depends on where on the evolutionary tree you want to start - the first recognizable ancestor walked upright and the predecessors also ( ape like with use of arms for propulsion as required - but all mammals came from a shrew like creature )

Answer 4

Ya I think so. Humans evolved to walk on 2 legs to adapt to tree dwelling lifestyles. that is why we still have opposable thumbs to grab hold to things. But we longer have long arms that we can use to swing from tree to tree.