Talar trochlear morphology may not be a good skeletal indicator of locomotor behavior in humans and great apes

To reconstruct locomotor behaviors of fossil hominins and understand the evolution of bipedal locomotion in the human lineage, it is important to clarify the functional morphology of the talar trochlea in humans and extant great apes. Therefore, the present study aimed to investigate the interspecific-differences of the talar trochlear morphology among humans, chimpanzees, gorillas, and orangutans by means of cone frustum approximation to calculate an apical angle and geometric morphometrics for detailed variability in the shape of the talar trochlea. The apical angles in gorillas and orangutans were significantly greater than those in humans and chimpanzees, but no statistical difference was observed between humans and chimpanzees, indicating that the apical angle did not necessarily correspond with the degree of arboreality in hominoids. The geometric morphometrics revealed clear interspecific differences in the trochlear morphology, but no clear association between the morphological characteristics of the trochlea and locomotor behavior was observed. The morphology of the trochlea may not be a distinct skeletal correlate of locomotor behavior, possibly because the morphology is determined not only by locomotor behavior, but also by other factors such as phylogeny and body size.

Automated summary

The study found that the apical angles in gorillas and orangutans were significantly greater than those in humans and chimpanzees, indicating that there is no direct correlation between the apical angle and arboreality in hominoids. Geometric morphometrics revealed interspecific differences in trochlear morphology, but did not show a clear association between trochlear characteristics and locomotor behavior. This suggests that trochlear morphology may not be solely determined by locomotor behavior, but also influenced by other factors like phylogeny and body size.