How a Few Small Mutations Allowed for Bipedalism in Humans
Benjamin Pruss
BIOL-2110-001 GENETICS
Professor Guy F. Barbato
November 11th, 2025
Recently, two small genetic mutations were found that helped early man achieve bipedalism. All of our cousins, the great apes, are quadrupeds that can only walk on two legs for short periods of time. However, because of a set of small mutations, we can live our lives on two legs.
These mutations, which affect the pelvis, or more specifically, the ilium, did two things: firstly, they rotated the pelvis 90 degrees. This changed the way the muscles were attached to the pelvis, becoming better suited to standing on two legs than walking around on four. Secondly, the amount of time it takes for the ilium to harden increased, allowing the pelvis to grow wider, which helped stabilize the body for an upright lifestyle.
The discovery was made by Gayani Senevirathne and peers in 2025, when they were comparing human, chimp, and mouse pelvic tissue while studying hip disorders. Bipedalism was an important evolutionary change that helped shape humanity as a species. "One of the most significant things about this change is it shows how critical it was to establish the ability to stand on one foot at a time, which lets us walk on two feet," says anthropologist Carol Ward from the University of Missouri. One of the authors of the research article, Terence Capellini, also believes that the widening of the hips also led to a larger birth canal, which would have allowed for larger-brained babies.
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