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DellSalami t1_iwpir37 wrote

Reply to comment by Notorious_Rug in I saw in a video that chimpanzees and gorillas do not knuckle-walk in the same way, but they didn't explain what the difference is. Could someone elaborate on the physiological/anatomical differences? by [deleted]

So if I’m understanding this right, gorillas knuckle-walk with their hands balled up in fists, while chimps have their palms flat(ish) on the ground?

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LemursRideBigWheels t1_iwpk1mz wrote

Think a vertical orientation of the hand vs a more canted orientation of the hand. Neither ball their hand up or place their palm on the ground while locomoting — they use the middle set of knuckles for support. Interestingly, what you describe is somewhat akin to what’s seen with orangutans when on the ground or arboreal monkeys respectively.

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Beret_of_Poodle t1_iwptwyj wrote

Gorillas use their arms to support their weight. They are extremely top heavy. Chimps use them for balance

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DorisCrockford t1_iwqf4wl wrote

I understood it as saying the chimps' wrists are bent while the gorillas' wrists are straight.

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CeaRhan t1_iwrfc57 wrote

The gorillas keep their hands/wrists straight to do something similar to what our legs do/look like while doing it, because they're essentially using them as front legs and they need to make sure they won't break/damage their wrists. So they essentially do the second picture here and put their knuckles on the ground.

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Norwester77 t1_iwt1d2v wrote

No, both species knuckle-walk with the hands curled and the middle bones of the fingers on the ground. Chimps knuckle-walk with their wrists bent, but gorillas knuckle-walk with their wrists straight.

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