Henry McHenry
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Henry Malcolm McHenry (born May 19, 1944) is a professor of
anthropology Anthropology is the scientific study of humanity, concerned with human behavior, human biology, cultures, societies, and linguistics, in both the present and past, including past human species. Social anthropology studies patterns of be ...
at the
University of California, Davis The University of California, Davis (UC Davis, UCD, or Davis) is a public land-grant research university near Davis, California. Named a Public Ivy, it is the northernmost of the ten campuses of the University of California system. The inst ...
, specializing in studies of
human evolution Human evolution is the evolutionary process within the history of primates that led to the emergence of '' Homo sapiens'' as a distinct species of the hominid family, which includes the great apes. This process involved the gradual development o ...
, the origins of bipedality, and paleoanthropology. McHenry has published on the comparative relationships among primate fossils. His findings have been featured in scholarly journals, and in publications including ''
Science Science is a systematic endeavor that Scientific method, builds and organizes knowledge in the form of Testability, testable explanations and predictions about the universe. Science may be as old as the human species, and some of the earli ...
'', ''The
New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'', '' Discover'' and '' National Geographic''. McHenry earned bachelor's and master's degrees at UC Davis before earning his Ph.D. at Harvard.


Efficient Walker theory

Attempting to explain the evolutionary advent of bipedalism among hominids, McHenry and Peter Rodman have advanced the Efficient Walker theory, based on energetic analysis. The scientists compared the efficiency of chimpanzees walking on two versus four legs, finding two legged locomotion was far more efficient. They concluded bipedalism was selected simply because it allowed for a further range of travel for hominids. As
Miocene The Miocene ( ) is the first epoch (geology), geological epoch of the Neogene Period and extends from about (Ma). The Miocene was named by Scottish geologist Charles Lyell; the name comes from the Greek words (', "less") and (', "new") and mea ...
forests decreased and hominids were forced into the savannas, the scientists reason, bipedalism enabled greater access to resources.


Study of African ancestors

McHenry travels regularly to
Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...
to extend his knowledge of human origins, focusing his studies on the fossil remains of australopithecines. The best-known of which are the 3.2-million-year-old remains of '
Lucy Lucy is an English feminine given name derived from the Latin masculine given name Lucius with the meaning ''as of light'' (''born at dawn or daylight'', maybe also ''shiny'', or ''of light complexion''). Alternative spellings are Luci, Luce, Lu ...
', discovered in 1974 by
Donald Johanson Donald Carl Johanson (born June 28, 1943) is an American paleoanthropologist. He is known for discovering, with Yves Coppens and Maurice Taieb, the fossil of a female hominin australopithecine known as "Lucy" in the Afar Triangle region of Hada ...
of the Institute for Human Origins. According to McHenry, "The earlier species (Lucy) is more primitive in its skull and teeth, but has human-like body proportions," whereas "the later species,
africanus Africanus is Latin for "African". It may refer to: People Ancient Roman cognomen * Africanus Fabius Maximus, the younger son of Quintus Fabius Maximus (consul 45 BC) and an unknown wife * Cresconius Africanus, a Latin canon lawyer of uncertain da ...
, with more human-like skull and teeth, has the more ape-like body proportions--big arms, small legs."


Publications

McHenry has produced over 130 publications, comprising papers, reviews, and contributions to books.


Papers

Among the papers which McHenry has written or contributed to are the following: * * * * * * * * * * * * * *


Books

Among the books which McHenry has written or contributed to are the following: *
Book review
* *


References


External links


UCDavis.edu
- Henry McHenry's UC Davis homepage :

- 'Origin of Bipedality', McHenry, H.M., ''
Annual Review of Anthropology The ''Annual Review of Anthropology'' is an academic journal that publishes review articles of significant developments in anthropology and its subfields. First published by Stanford University Press in 1959 under the name the ''Biennial Review of ...
'', vol 11, p 151-173 (1982) :
UCDavis.edu
- 'Henry McHenry honored for highly evolved teaching', Lisa Klionsky (March 3, 2000) :

- 'The singing paleontologist: Back from his latest African visit, Henry McHenry has a bone to pick with an old theory about human evolution', Trina Wood {{DEFAULTSORT:McHenry, Henry 1944 births Living people American anthropologists Primatologists Harvard University alumni University of California, Davis faculty University of California, Davis alumni Paleoanthropologists