If you ’re distressed about the conditions in which the big cats were preserve in " Tiger King " , consider this : In the thirties , alien animal collector Gertrude Lintz raised chimpanzee as if they were human . The cruelty of divest them of the opportunity to do normal chimp things ca n’t be undone , but scientist have learned from what come about to better our understanding of one of the developments that mould humans .
Primates that go in trees have curved bone in their hands and feet for serious grip . The same feature can be seen in fossil of human ancestors . However , scientists have debated whether these curves are transmitted or a response to climb from an early years , which would influence how we interpret the presence of similar features in fossil from our ancestors .
To answer the interrogation , however , we either demand to have humankind spend their life climbing trees from childhood or deprive member of tree - lie species of the chance to climb . Even if there were scientist fell enough to propose such an experiment today , they ’d be unlikely to get it past an value-system citizens committee . However , there is no trouble with examining the bone of an animal mistreated before our standards meliorate .
Dr Ian Wallaceof the University of New Mexico learned of a chimpanzee named Suzy who was enamor in Africa as an baby and brought to America , where Lintz bribe her . Along with more than a twelve other chimpanzees , Lintz attempted to raise Suzy like a human child , retain her indoors and do her wear clothes , eat with cutting tool , and walk only on her hind legs , including up and down stairs . Opportunities to climb were strictly special .
Having obtain Suzy ’s bones , Wallace was capable to measure their curvature . InProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences , Wallace points out that chimpanzees less than 5 age old drop around 70 pct of their clip in tree diagram . During this development form , their phalanx ( finger and toe castanets ) become curving to help them transfix .
“ Most researchers believe that phalangeal curvature is a phenotypically pliant trait that develops throughout life in reply to mechanical loads experienced by hands and base during dendroid locomotion , " Wallace writes in the paper . Nevertheless , Wallace and Colorado - authors find out Suzy ’s phalanx are as curved as raging chimpanzee , unlike our straight one , indicate the trait is genetic .
The human voluntary descent from Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree would have beenfar more gradualthan Suzy ’s forced one . Still , the findings show phalangeal curve could have persisted after our ancestor ' climbing cut back . Consequently , to determine the lifestyle of anAustralopithecusor early human , face at off-white curvature may not be enough .
The authors acknowledge the dangers of rely on a sample of one but have n’t turn up the bones of any other chimpanzees raise in this way .
