The Ulas family from Turkey walks on all fours and according to scientists, shouldn't exist
According to a research study, Turkish scientists put forward a hypothesis suggesting the possibility of
What would your response be to people who move using all four of their limbs? No, they aren't mimicking animals or attempting an unusual type of race. Instead, they employ a technique known as a "bear crawl", utilising both the palms of their hands and their legs, and it is how they walk.
What the
You're not alone. This family has shocked scientists equally, and according to them, the family is a biological anomaly and shouldn't exist; but can also be considered as the missing link between apes and humans.
- The Ulas family from Turkey is believed to be the first known instance of a quadrupedal walking pattern in humans.
- The family first came to the limelight through a scientific paper, followed by a 2006 BBC documentary titled "The Family That Walks on All Fours".
- Later, 60 Minutes Australia also released a documentary talking about the family in 2019, but till now, we don't have a proper answer as to why the family walks on all fours.
- Professor Nicholas Humphrey, an evolutionary psychologist from the London School of Economics, in that documentary, found that out of the 18 kids in this family, six of them were born with this trait never before seen in modern human adults. Unfortunately, one of the six has since died.
He also added, "The thing which marks us off from the rest of the animal world is the fact that we're the species which walks on two legs and holds our heads high in the air... of course, it's language and all other sorts of things too, but it's terribly important to our sense of ourselves as being different from others in the animal kingdom. These people cross that boundary."
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How???
According to a study, Turkish scientists put forward a hypothesis suggesting the possibility of "devolution". They proposed that a genetic regression of approximately 3 million years of evolution could account for the emergence of this trait within the family.
However, Professor Humphrey strongly dismissed this idea, deeming it "deeply insulting" and "scientifically irresponsible," as highlighted in a BBC documentary.
The professor also pointed out that the children in the family weren't necessarily encouraged to stand once they reached the age of nine months. Consequently, this approach might have had an impact on their developmental progression.
Researchers at Liverpool University, according to the New York Post, also found that the children at the centre of the study had skeletons with more resemblance to apes than humans and had a shrunken cerebellum.