What was the first case of bipedalism?

Question

I've been trying to find it and it seems to evade me.

Answer 1

.All primates are bi-pedal. I know of no Monkey, Ape, or Human who are quadruped..

Answer 2

The australopithecines currently get the credit

"In fossil discoveries the locking knee joint, pelvis, ankle, foot and lower limbs showed it walked upright. Also, the shape of the pelvis and the relationship between the head and the spinal column show that they acquired an erect posture and that their bipedal locomotion was perfected. Mary Leakey found the oldest evidence of bipedalism, which were the Laetoli footprints found in Tanzania. These footprints were 3.8 million years old, and showed defining characteristics of walking, like a strong heel strike, splayed toes"

http://www.wilton.k12.ct.us/whs/lib/stud...

"definitive proof arrived with the discovery of some key fossil evidence. Bipedal fossils were found in Ethiopia dating from 3.2 million years ago, while the earliest stone tools date from about 2.4 million years ago. That was Australopithecus afarensis, better known as Lucy. Lucy would have weighed about 30 kg (65 lbs) and been "barely tall enough to peek over a garden fence" at just over a meter in height. She had long arms, indicating that she was still a good little tree climber although she was very clearly bipedal. "

http://www.bonkworld.org/index.php?actio...

"Lucy", formally know as AL288-1, (cataloged as: "Afar location, find #288-1") is the remains of  an Australopithecus afarenis. ("Southern ape of Afar") She was found in 1974. Don Johanson's team found the remains. Her name came from the fact that the song "Lucy in the Sky" was playing the evening that the team brought the remains in. Lucy was found in the Afar triangle of Ethiopia, near the town of Hadar. She is considered the most complete skeleton found from that time.

By the way, it's interesting how the claim of "most complete" was made.

There are 206 bones in the hominid body. If you count the paired bones (two arms, two legs, etc.) as one, then you have the 120 bones of a "half skeleton." Lucy is described as 20 percent of a whole or 28 percent of a half skeleton. Alan Walker found Nariokome Boy a Homo erectus skeleton. This had 67 bones, 33 percent of a whole and 40 percent of a half skeleton. curious, Walker asked Don Johanson, Lucy's discoverer, how he arrived at her percentages. Johanson stated he had discounted the 106 bones of the hands and feet (they are only rarely found) this gave the percentages that are quoted. By that computation, Nariokome Boy is 66 percent complete.

Lucy stood some 3.5 feet tall and lived 3.0 to 3.5 million years ago.  Brain capacity, a suggestive means of determining intelligence, is thought to have been 410cc. The modern human brain averages 1400 cc. The species is thought to have gone extinct some 2.5 million years ago.

Due to the completeness of the remains, Lucy's overall body proportions could be established. This gave critical information about what the hominids looked like and how early they had adopted walking on two feet. Lucy walked slightly bowlegged and based on the curved toes and pelvis shape, appear to still be spending time in trees. The shape of the pelvis appeared to show that her young would have had an easier time being born. They didn't have to turn and twist as do human children today do.

The term "Australopithecus" means "southern ape." The genus includes, afarenis, boisei, robustus and Prometheus

Answer 3

Do you mean the Scopes Monkey Trial, a famous court...case... about a bipedal subject.  We know that you know there was no videotapes of the first ape to walk upright.

(Imagine)...ape #1 saying to the other, "Hey, Harry, I got the tape running stand up and walk from that tree over there on just two, buddy, we'll make a million bananas with this."