Fine-Grained Differences within Positional Categories

Abstract

The study of primate locomotion and posture has advanced considerably since its beginnings, approximately thirty years ago. Early studies were primarily concerned with inferring the locomotor behavior of the earliest hominids, using the living great apes as analogues (Ashton and Oxnard, 1963; Napier, 1963). A turning point for studies on locomotion and posture was the 1965 Primate Locomotion Symposium, organized by Warren Kinzey. In this symposium, the importance of field studies was first emphasized, as was the importance of distinguishing between locomotor categories based upon natural behavior rather than upon skeletal anatomy or observations of zoo animals (Kinzey, 1967). At the same time, Prost (1965) stressed the importance of a standardized system to classify positional (i.e., locomotor and postural) behavior, which would allow for more precise comparison between studies, and emphasized the importance of postural (in addition to locomotor) behaviors in shaping the postcranium.