Who Invented Walking? shocking fact 2024

know Who Invented Walking;- Walking is something we’re all so used to that it’s difficult to imagine a time when humans didn’t walk. Did you know that every minute you walk can extend your life by 1.5 to 2 minutes on average?

Let’s look at the history of walking, including who invented it and how long humans have been doing it.

Where Did Walking Originate?

According to research, humans first began walking anywhere between three and six million years ago.

Most anthropologists believe that walking, specifically the bipedal form that we use today, originated in Africa.

Many anthropologists regard bipedalism, or walking on two legs, as a distinguishing feature of “hominins,” or modern humans and their ancestors.

Bipedalism did not appear overnight. It underwent a slow evolution that began many millions of years ago. The oldest fossil records indicating bipedal tendencies are found in Ethiopia and Tanzania.

When Did Walking Begin?

The first signs of bipedal walking appeared between 4.2 and 4.4 million years ago, according to fossil records.

In Ethiopia, the remains of a female hominid known as Ardi were discovered. Ardi’s remains, as well as those of other nearby hominins, had the first identified bipedal characteristics.

Ardi’s species is thought to have been the first to walk as humans do today.

However, further investigation revealed that bipedal movement was not the only method of movement and was not always the best option.

The transition to full bipedal development would take many centuries.

It began millions of years ago. Walking is the primary mode of locomotion for the vast majority of people.

It’s difficult to believe that millions of years ago, our ancestors crawled on four limbs and rarely walked on two. Human anatomy evolved over time to support our weight while walking upright.

Humans experience symptoms such as lower back pain and slipped discs as a result of putting all of our weight on two limbs, according to the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History.

It demonstrates how humans did not become fully bipedal until approximately 1.9 million years ago.

While other primates did walk before that, it was only for survival purposes, such as navigating the varying landscapes in their surroundings.

Our primate ancestors had already evolved to have angled femurs, stronger knees, a curved spine, and more hip support by 1.9 million years ago, allowing them to become fully bipedal.

Longer femurs from Homo erectus also allowed humans to take longer strides and walk faster, according to the Smithsonian website.

Why did humans start walking?

There is no agreement on why hominids began walking, but scientists have several theories.

One theory stems from a 2012 study on chimps in the Republic of Guinea published in Current Biology. Chimpanzees were given the option of eating kola nuts or oil palm nuts.

Despite living in an oil palm nut-rich area, they preferred coula nuts. Chimpanzees were four times more likely to walk away on their two back limbs when given coula nuts.

The researchers concluded that the chimps moved the coula nuts to avoid competition, and that walking upright was the most viable option.

When Did The Current Form of Walking Develop?

Many scientists believe that walking as we know it today did not begin until about 1.8 million years ago.

In Africa during this time, a species now known as homo erectus evolved. Unlike the Ardi and Lucy groups, the homo erectus fossils exhibit definite traits that are similar to modern humans.

The longer legs and shorter arms that come with – and facilitate – fully bipedal locomotion are among these characteristics.

The hips, knees, and spine had also fully developed to support walking and running in the manner that we now use.

Benefits of walking

• Regular, brisk exercise of any type can boost confidence, stamina, energy, weight control, and life expectancy while also lowering stress.

• It may also reduce the risk of coronary artery disease, stroke, diabetes, high blood pressure, bowel cancer, and osteoporosis.

• Walking, in addition to its physical benefits, has been shown in scientific studies to improve memory skills, learning ability, concentration, mood, creativity, and abstract reasoning.

• Sustained walking sessions for at least thirty to sixty minutes per day, five days a week, with proper walking posture.

• It lowers health risks and has numerous overall health benefits, including a lower risk of cancer, type 2 diabetes, heart disease, anxiety disorder, and depression.

• Even people who are obese or have high blood pressure have a longer life expectancy. Walking also improves bone health, particularly hip bone strength, while lowering harmful low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol and increasing useful high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol.

• Walking may also help prevent dementia and Alzheimer’s disease, according to research.

• Walking at a pace that raises one’s heart rate to 70% of one’s maximum heart rate, also known as the “fat-burning heart rate,” causes the body to use fat reserves for energy, resulting in fat loss.

• Subtraction of an individual’s age from 220 yields the maximum heart rate.

• In any case, humans and their ancestors started walking very early in their evolution. Even though bipedalism predated tool-making, an upright posture freed the hands to make and use tools, which eventually became one of the distinguishing features of humans like us.

FAQ;Who Invented Walking?