This family is taking their walking skills to an entirely new level – quite literally!
A Turkish family has left scientists puzzled due to their preference for moving on all fours, adopting a bear crawl, instead of the traditional upright walking, challenging conventional beliefs about human evolution.
The Ulas family, utilizing their palms for locomotion, became the subject of a scientific paper and were prominently featured in the 2006 BBC documentary "The Family That Walks on All Fours."
Intriguingly, Professor Nicholas Humphrey, an evolutionary psychologist at the London School of Economics, discovered a unique trait in six out of the family's 18 children, a phenomenon unseen in modern human adults. Regrettably, one of these six individuals has since passed away.
Expressing his astonishment during an interview on the Australian TV show '60 Minutes Australia,' Humphrey remarked, "I never expected that even under the most extraordinary scientific fantasy that modern human beings could return to an animal state."
He elaborated on the significance of bipedalism, stating, "The thing which marks us off from the rest of the animal world is the fact that we’re the species which walks on two legs and holds our heads high in the air. Of course, it’s language and all other sorts of things too, but it’s terribly important to our sense of ourselves as being different from others in the animal kingdom. These people cross that boundary."
The documentary gained notoriety by depicting the Ulas family as a potential link between humans and apes, suggesting the controversial concept of "devolution" and the reversal of three million years of evolution.
Humphrey, however, strongly disapproves of this theory, deeming it both offensive and lacking scientific credibility. The documentary even implied that these children should not exist.
Researchers at Liverpool University studied the children, finding that their skeletons bore more resemblance to apes than humans. Moreover, they identified a smaller cerebellum in the children, a rare condition that typically does not impair upright walking ability.
While the family moved on their palms, in contrast to apes' knuckle-walking, Humphrey proposed that they might serve as an intermediary link between apes and humans. He suggested, "I think it’s possible that what we are seeing in this family is something that does correspond to a time when we didn’t walk like chimpanzees but was an important step between coming down from the trees and becoming fully bipedal."
Humphrey also speculated that their developmental progress might have been hindered due to a lack of encouragement to stand after nine months of age.
Fortunately, the children received assistance in learning to walk correctly, including physiotherapy and specialized equipment. Upon Humphrey's return to Turkey for a developmental assessment, he noted the remarkable progress in the children's movement abilities, showcasing the remarkable adaptability and flexibility of the human body.
Feel free to share your thoughts on this extraordinary family in the comments below!
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