What would be different If we walked on four these days?
In: Biology
There’s a couple of key benefits to being bipedal. Our heads being directly above our midline allows us to have a larger, heavier brain – if we continually had our heads out past our bodies, the strain would be too much on our necks.
Secondly, moving two limbs primarily to move reduces our top speed, but is a more energy efficient way to propel ourselves for long periods. Humans evolved primarily as pursuit predators, where we don’t outrun our prey, we outlast it. Many animals can beat us in a race once, but while they flag and fire from the efforts, we can continue on and will catch them.
Edit: To clarify your final question which I missed first time round… Obviously the hunter/pursuit predator aspect isn’t much of an issue these days for the vast majority of humans. But it’s the first point that would be problematic for us. You can get a feel for this easily – get down on all fours, and then try and keep your head up so you can see forwards. You’ll tire your neck out extremely quickly. It’s not a comfortable position to be in.
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