The Forgotten Climbers: How Fossil Feet Are Misleading Our Understanding of Human Evolution The assumption that ancient humans were either highly arboreal or terrestrial has long hampered research on human evolution.
This dichotomy has led researchers to focus on fossilized feet as a key indicator of an organism's locomotor habits, with ape like feet often associated with tree dwelling species and monkey like feet dismissed as less capable climbers.
However, a recent study published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences challenges this assumption by revealing that sooty mangabey monkeys possess an unexpected level of foot flexibility.