if evolution happens, why arent more animals walking upright?

Answer 1

Because walking upright is not a very good evolutionary advantage. The pelvis of animals are not design to stretch to the point that we do it, besides haven't you notice that the human race run slower than most other animals, it helps a lot to be able to push with four instead of two.

Answer 2

Walking upright can be extremely disadvantagous to a species.

For one, the strain but on the spine and pevlis is increased substantially as the shoulders in most tetrapods are the main area of support (which is why we get severe back problems)

Additionally, there are already quite a few animals walking upright. Evolution doesn't ensure that all animals will eventually bipedal. That's a common misconception among people who assume that humans (or at least anthropomorphic creatures) are what evolution is "working towards". Get this straight, evolution has no plan for anything, it's all based on what works and what doesn't.

Answer 3

Because evolution does NOT mean "become more human."

This is a bizarre idea that some people have about evolution ... that evolution is all about making everything smarter, or walk more upright, or have a voice box. Just because humans have certain characteristics, doesn't mean that those characteristics are the end-all, be-all of evolution.

That's silly. Evolution is what happens when the environment acts on certain mutations that appear in the population of a species. A different environment, or a different set of mutations, and you get a completely different set of characteristics.

Answer 4

Simple answer is that evolution requires many, many, many generations for anything to change. For something specific, like walking upright, you could be looking at thousands of generations.

Also, evolution is spurred on by adaption to environment, if an animal doesn't need to walk upright then most likely it won't develop naturally. A lot of land animals depend on speed, cats, horses, any predator, and they usually rely on all 4 limbs to get that greater speed. Therefore it is not in those species best interest to develop bipedal movement.

I'm not saying that evolution is "chosen" by any species, but if a species developed a line of offspring that had a major design change, natural selection would generally cause that line to die out.

This is just a short answer, there would literally be hundreds of reasons why any one species would develop bipedal movement or reject it.

Answer 5

because evolution dosnt all happen the same way. It happens due to a million different reasons.
you think that all the animals you see around are exactly the way they were hundreds of years ago.

Think on it this way. God may have created the universe .. who am i to say he didnt... But have ya ever thought that maybe god designed it this way??
Lots of people say its either evolution of creation... well I say maybe god created the universe so that it could change. From reading the bible it would seem that he would want his creations to become all the could be. To me its sounds like this guy wants us to be the best we can be.
lol he placed down the commandments so that we could better ourselves by following them. then go to heaven and all that.

just because something is not written in the bible does not mean it is not right. Dinosaurs exist there is no doubt about that, yet the bibble never mentions them... Y u ask.

Because the bibble was written by humans not by god or angels (or demons for that matter ) and thats just it humans are flawed the bibble says so itself.

( i follow no religion , i accept all peoples beliefs and wont judge someone by what god the follow. but i do stand by one thing in this life and the next. Nothing is perfect, no religion, no animal, no object, no thought... and thats what makes everything so beautiful )

Answer 6

Evolution occurs if its an advantage for that species, which is essential for "survival of the fittest". Walking upright isn't an advantage nor a need for all animals. And each population of animals evolve according to the needs and mutations of their population. Example: Giraffes have long necks to reach food in high trees. What would be our advantage of having a long neck that long? None really. In fact, if one was to have such a long neck, he wouldn't survive too long from bumping into doorways - that gene is then wiped out. Predator vs. Prey has a lot to do with adapting to each other to survive. Many random mutations will occur. And from those mutations, it is filtered thru "natural selection" by way of enabling the animal to survive better in their given environment. If it's a poor mutation, the animal dies, stopping the bad gene right there. If it helps the animal survive, the gene survives and spreads throughout its population. And a single evolution can take THOUSANDS of years to manifest, because a single viable mutated gene that is expressed can take that long and mix in with the pool of the population. So don't hold your breath thinking you'll witness one overnight...or else you might evolve into a whale..

Answer 7

When learning about evolution, the first thing you must do is accept that humans are not the perfection - not even close - and that we are not somehow on top of the heap.

Once you get over that hurdle you can start looking at how other living creatures are so much better at running fast, flying, making burrows to live in, living under water, etc., etc.

Humans have one unique thing: a big brain. Unfortunately, we are not even using that very well but are over-populating the world and killing off other species and will probably end up killing ourselves with weapons of massive brains.

Answer 8

It's really just they way things are. Maybe its just how the animals are designed like bone stucture wise. Most animals can't be trained to stand because of that. Kangaroos and monkeys can stand because thats how their legs are. I'm no scientist so i can't give details but maybe in 6 million years or so, animals will evolve to be something greater. Or maybe they will stay the same. Still, it's a pretty good question and it did get me thinking.

Answer 9

We evolve to better adapt! Animals would walk upright if it were the only way for them to survive. They're fine just the way they are!

Answer 10

Perhaps man with his "true" upright stance is a fluke, or maybe we don't understand the direction evolution is going. Maybe the monkeys descended from us.