| 释义 |
ˈknuckle-walker
[f. knuckle n. + walker n.1]
Any primate, such as the gorilla or chimpanzee, which has a quadrupedal gait involving the backs of the knuckles (rather than the tips of the fingers or flat of the palm) making contact with the ground. So ˈknuckle-walk v., ˈknuckle-walking vbl. n.
1859R. Owen On Classification & Geographical Distribution of Mammalia 75 Of the broad-breasted quadrumana, are the knuckle-walkers or the brachiators, i.e. the long-armed gibbons, most nearly and essentially related to the human subject? 1874Wood Nat. Hist. I. 25 When these creatures [the gorilla, chimpansee, and orang-outan] aid their steps by placing the hands on the ground, they have the curious habit of resting the knuckles on the ground..From this peculiarity, the three apes have received the appropriate title of knuckle⁓walkers. 1967R. H. Tuttle in Amer. Jrnl. Physical Anthropol. XXVI. 171 (title) Knuckle-walking and the evolution of Hominoid hands. Ibid., Most orang-utans assume one of a variety of flexed hand postures, but they cannot knuckle-walk. Ibid. 171/2 The knuckle-walking posture of chimpanzees and gorillas is unique among primates. 1967S. L. Washburn in Proc. R. Anthrop. Inst. 23/1 Both chimpanzees and gorillas are knuckle walkers. Ibid., It appears that our ancestors were arboreal apes for many millions of years, that they then shared a common knuckle-walking stage with the ancestors of the chimpanzee and gorilla, and that only later they became bipeds. 1969A. H. Schultz Life of Primates v. 56 In the orang-utan the mode of using the hands in walking..is more in the form of a clenched fist, rather awkwardly twisted sideways, and rarely like real knuckle-walking. 1972O. J. Lewis in R. H. Tuttle Functional & Evolutionary Biol. Primates ix. 212 Thick palmar radiocarpal ligaments are not the exclusive property of knuckle-walkers... It thus seems that knuckle-walking requires no especially striking modifications of the wrist joint. 1973Nature 10 Aug. 373/2 The first component separates quadrupedal cercopithecoids from both knuckle-walkers (Pan and Gorilla) and the quadrupedal arm-swinger..Ateles. |
