When Humans Quit Hunting And Gathering, Their Bones Got Wimpy

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Compared with other primates and our early human ancestors, we modern humans have skeletons that are relatively lightweight - and scientists say that basically may be because we got lazy.

Biological anthropologist Habiba Chirchir and her colleagues at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History were studying the bones of different primates including humans. When they looked at the ends of bones near the joints, they were struck by how much less dense this spongy bone was in humans compared with chimpanzees or orangutans.