First Steps

A Dartmouth anthropologist whose team discovered two ancient human species explores how our evolution toward bipedalism rendered us dominant, innovative, more compassionate, and more susceptible to health problems. Human are the only mammals to walk on two rather than four legs, a locomotion known as bipedalism. This has its drawbacks: giving birth is more difficult; our running speed is much slower than that of other animals; and we suffer ailments from hernias to scoliosis. DeSilva explores how unusual and extraordinary this seemingly everyday ability is-- and shows how upright walking is a…