Oreopithecus was a bipedal ape after all: Evidence from the iliac cancellous architecture

1999/07/20 by Lorenzo Rook, Luca Bondioli, Meike Köhler +2 · 3 citations
Engineering · Neuroscience · Computer Science · #Muscle activation and electromyography studies #Motor Control and Adaptation #Human Pose and Action Recognition #Bipedalism #Cancellous bone #Anatomy #Australopithecus #Biology #Skeleton (computer programming)

paper · doi:10.1073/pnas.96.15.8795

openalex publication_date 1999/07/20 · openalex created_date 2016/06/24 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/18

Abstract

Textural properties and functional morphology of the hip bone cancellous network of Oreopithecus bambolii, a 9- to 7-million-year-old Late Miocene hominoid from Italy, provide insights into the postural and locomotor behavior of this fossil ape. Digital image processing of calibrated hip bone radiographs reveals the occurrence of trabecular features, which, in humans and fossil hominids, are related to vertical support of the body weight, i.e., to bipedality.

Citations

• Hip bone trabecular architecture shows uniquely distinctive locomotor behaviour in South African australopithecines
• Measurement and significance of three-dimensional architecture to the mechanical integrity of trabecular bone
• Ape-like or hominid-like? The positional behavior of Oreopithecus bambolii reconsidered
• Evidence of hominid-like precision grip capability in the hand of the Miocene ape Oreopithecus

Cited by

• Reevaluation of the lumbosacral region of Oreopithecus bambolii
• A partial hominoid innominate from the Miocene of Pakistan: Description and preliminary analyses
• Oreopithecus [wikipedia]