‘The Family That Walks on All Fours,’ leaves the scientific community in a state of bewilderment

The Ulas family from Turkey, known for their unique quadrupedal walking style, gained prominence through their appearance in a documentary by 60 Minutes Australia. This extraordinary phenomenon, previously documented in “The Family That Walks on All Fours,” has left the scientific community astounded.

The Ulas family is believed to be the first known instance of humans exhibiting a quadrupedal walking pattern.

Professor Nicholas Humphrey, an evolutionary psychologist affiliated with the London School of Economics, expressed to 60 Minutes Australia, “What sets us apart from the rest of the animal world is our ability to walk on two legs and hold our heads high… along with language and other factors, this difference is crucial to our self-perception as distinct from other creatures. These individuals challenge that distinction.”

Could They Be a Missing Link? 60 Minutes Australia proposed the idea that the Ulas family might represent a potential “missing link” bridging humans and apes. Their existence was considered profoundly significant, even though it contradicted typical expectations and seemed counterintuitive.

‘Devolution’ or Reversion? Turkish scientists put forth a theory in a published paper suggesting that a form of “devolution” could have occurred, resulting in a genetic reversion of approximately 3 million years of evolution.

However, Professor Humphrey dismissed this idea as “deeply insulting” and “scientifically irresponsible.”

Observations and Skeletal Characteristics Studies have shown that individuals walking on all fours tend to possess a smaller cerebellum. Nevertheless, not all individuals with this cerebellum size exhibit the distinctive quadrupedal trait.

Furthermore, research conducted by scientists from Liverpool University indicated that those who walk on all fours display skeletal features more reminiscent of apes than typical humans.

An Unconventional Gait In contrast to the knuckle-walking observed in apes, the Ulas family utilizes flat hands while walking.

Humphrey postulated, “It’s plausible that this family’s behavior corresponds to a time when we didn’t walk like chimpanzees but was an important intermediate step between descending from trees and fully transitioning to bipedalism,” as he discussed the phenomenon with a UK media outlet.