近日，国际著名杂志Journal of Human Evolution刊登了英国科学家的研究成果“Thermoregulation and endurance running in extinct hominins: Wheeler’s models revisited。”科研人员解释，与此前的发现相反，他们发现早期人类的直立姿势不太可能是为了管理人体在炎热天气下的热量而出现的一种适应。
此前的研究提示，早期人类进化出了两足行走的姿势从而帮助阻止他们的身体过热。Graeme D. Ruxton 和David M. Wilkinson使用一种建模分析确定了体热控制是否可能引发早期人类的双足行走。这组作者根据他们的模拟，提出炎热天气下的热管理可能没有足够的进化压力用于鼓励人类祖先的直立行走姿势。相反，正如此前研究提出的，这组作者证实了过度出汗和逐渐失去体毛可能对温度控制有贡献。
然而，这组作者指出，一旦为了应对目前仍然未知的选择压力而进化出来的直立姿态出现，它可能导致了体毛减少，而体毛倾向于妨碍与周边空气的热交换。因此，维持直立姿态的早期人类甚至在诸如在炎热天气下行走这样的活动中也能够维持适宜的体温——前提是它们丧失体毛和高出汗率也已经进化出来了。这组作者说，这些发现提示，早期人类的直立姿势很可能是因为与体热控制无关的原因而进化出来的。（生物谷Bioon.com）
doi:10.1016/j.jhevol.2011.02.012
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Thermoregulation and endurance running in extinct hominins: Wheeler’s models revisited
Graeme D. Ruxton, David M. Wilkinson
Thermoregulation is often cited as a potentially important influence on the evolution of hominins, thanks to a highly influential series of papers in the Journal of Human Evolution in the 1980s and 1990s by Peter Wheeler. These papers developed quantitative modeling of heat balance between different potential hominins and their environment. Here, we return to these models, update them in line with new developments and measurements in animal thermal biology, and modify them to represent a running hominin rather than the stationary form considered previously. In particular, we use our modified Wheeler model to investigate thermoregulatory aspects of the evolution of endurance running ability. Our model suggests that for endurance running to be possible, a hominin would need locomotive efficiency, sweating rates, and areas of hairless skin similar to modern humans. We argue that these restrictions suggest that endurance running may have been possible (from a thermoregulatory viewpoint) for Homo erectus, but is unlikely for any earlier hominins.
