bipedalism

1 7.3

Walking on two legs like humans

: bipedalismo

But the benefits that we get from standing upright outweigh the costs that come with bipedalism.

Examples

The evolution of bipedalism marked a significant adaptation in human ancestors.
One was that they proved bipedalism had emerged much earlier than had been believed.

Academic text (1995)
Crawling was little developed, and forms of bipedalism developed only very gradually.

Academic text (1998)
Most of the animal behavior normally cited consists of static bipedalism, such as rising on two legs to look out for predators or gather food.

Academic text (1995)
Two very different books, then, present radically different scenarios for the origin of bipedalism in our lineage.

Academic text (2003)
Yes, in retrospect, bipedalism opened up a huge range of radical new possibilities for hominids.

Academic text (2003)
All these widely varied attempts to explain bipedalism concentrate on imagining what advantages might have been gained from it.

Academic text (1995)
An opposing camp argues that bipedalism is simply the most energy-efficient way for a hominid to get around on a flat surface.

Academic text (2003)
One of the most significant of the evolutionary "scars" imposed by the habitual bipedalism of the protohominids is a shortening of the pelvic opening, making childbirth much more difficult and painful for humans than it is for other apes.

Academic text (1995)
Research on bipedalism explains how early humans developed walking upright.

bipedalism singular

bipedalisms plural

bipedalism = bipedal (transparent) = bi + pedal + ism

Formed from 'bipedal' (bi- + pedal) with '-ism' marking the state or condition, making the meaning directly predictable.

The word bipedalism comes from bi- 'two' and ped 'foot', like in pedal or pedestrian, so it means walking on 'two' feet.