According to research carried out at the University of Liverpool (United Kingdom), the mechanisms of the human foot are not as unique as previously thought. In a new study based on the analysis of more than 25,000 steps published by the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B , scientists have shown that, despite having abandoned life in trees long ago, human feet have retained enormous flexibility, similar to that of the feet of great apes , such as orangutans and chimpanzees, which remain largely arboreal.
According to scientists, when our ancestors moved from trees to the ground they did not adapt to life on land as much as other animals that live at ground level, including horses, hares and dogs. Despite becoming almost exclusively land-based, our species has maintained flexibility in the feet to be able to effectively cope with the differences between hard and soft terrain that we encounter when traveling long distances on foot .
