This family is elevating their walking game to a whole new level… Literally!
Scientists are baffled by a Turkish family who prefer to move on all fours like bears (“bear crawl”) instead of walking upright, which goes against what is commonly believed about human evolution.
The Ulas family, who use their palms to walk, were the focus of a scientific paper and were also showcased in a 2006 BBC documentary called “The Family That Walks on All Fours.”
Professor Nicholas Humphrey, an evolutionary psychologist at the London School of Economics, found that out of the family’s 18 children, six showed a unique trait not seen in modern human adults before. Unfortunately, one of these six has died.
Humphrey expressed his astonishment about this incredible discovery during an interview on the Australian TV show ’60 Minutes Australia’. “I never expected that even under the most extraordinary scientific fantasy that modern human beings could return to an animal state.”
He continued (via the Daily Star): “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 fame for labeling the Ulas family as the connection between humans and apes, and hinted at the possibility of “devolution” happening, undoing three million years of evolution.
Humphrey has expressed his disapproval of this theory, stating that it is not only offensive but also lacks scientific credibility. The documentary also mentioned that these children should not be here.
Scientists at Liverpool University studied the children and found that their skeletons were more similar to apes than humans. Additionally, they discovered that the children had a smaller cerebellum, a rare condition that usually doesn’t affect their ability to walk upright.
The family was walking using their palms, while apes use their knuckles.
Humphrey proposed that the family could be an intermediary connection between apes and humans, stating: “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.”
He also suggested that their progress may have been hindered because they were not encouraged to stand after 9 months of age.
Luckily, the kids were able to get help with learning how to walk correctly, such as physiotherapy and special equipment to assist them in walking on their own.
When Humphrey returned to Turkey to assess their development, he observed that the kids had shown remarkable progress in their movement abilities. This shows how amazing people can be in terms of their body’s flexibility and adaptability.
Share your thoughts about this remarkable family in the comments below!
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