How Could Australopithecus Have Benefited From Walking On Two Legs

1. How could Australopithecus have benefited from walking on two legs? (Explain at least two benefits)
The two benefits of bipedalism are flexibility and having more energy efficiency. Flexibility is a key benefit of bipedalism, because it allowed Australopithecus to take advantage of more/different environment rather than one. According to the book (p.8) “The rain forest abounded with fruits and nuts, but on the other hand the woodlands offered grasses and seeds.” Flexibility was key to obtaining more energy (food), because it exposed the Australopithecus to more environments and allowed them to be more adaptable to different environments, rather than just the rain forest as the book suggested. Second key benefit which bipedalism provided was energy efficiency. Bipedalism allowed hands to be free, which provided the benefit of gathering more food, than be carried over long distances. More food meant a better chance of survival for the Australopithecus. As the article suggested “ Our hands were free to make and use tools, we could walk long distances to collect and carry food (and in doing so benefit from enhanced thermoregulation to prevent overheating), we could look over tall

In Paleolithic period, the humans mostly were hunters and gatherers. According to the Crash Course video, John Green implied in the Paleolithic period everybody would hunt or gather for food, but in the Neolithic Period not everybody had to be involved in food production. One of the reasons why Neolithic Period is better is because of food security. Not having to worry about food increases the chances of survival. According to John Green, not having to worry about food allowed people to do other things, like develop farming technology. Intelligence would blossom more under the Neolithic Period than Paleolithic Period. I would like to be in an era where more innovation occurs and therefore, I would choose to live in the Neolithic