UKC

Natural selection favoured Great Apes with more mobile upper limb joints that enabled safe descent from trees, researchers claim. Downclimbing could be an overlooked factor in the evolution of anatomical differences passed down to human beings... 

Many millions of years ago, our tree-dwelling primate ancestors used their climbing skills to find food, shelter and evade predation. They faced a reality familiar to contemporary human climbers: that getting up is only one half of the challenge.

"We think large-bodied apes have been climbing down out of trees at least since the Miocene [23.03-5.333 million years ago], which is a long time to be concerned about falling."

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I think our forelimbs evolved so that we could wipe our own bums

Whilst scrolling and posting on ukc at the same time? 

80-100kg orangutan ONLY fell ten metres?

It would have been going at over 30mph by the time it hit the ground.

I've fallen from 8+ metres a few times and it hurt!

Si.

I seriously read “Did Downclimbing Apps help Evolve … etc.”

Somehow, I wasn’t even surprised that there could be such an app on the market!

I mud admit, I am quite the coward and have downclimbed many a thing in my time - but I've never personally downclimbed an ape.