Clever, but...


https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/evolutionary-human-sciences/article/relationship-between-trackmakers-of-the-laetoli-footprints-from-gait-synchronization/D90BD458E36116BAC371606D34760ED2

Abstract
The parallel trails of footprints at Laetoli
site G are important fossils for studying the
characteristics of Australopithecus afarensis.
However, the relationship between the
trackmakers – i.e. whether it was that of an
adult male–female pair or of parent–offspring
– remains unclear. The footprints show that the
two individuals walked side by side with a
narrow and constant distance between them and
synchronized their leg movements and step
lengths (gait synchronization), although they
had a large height difference. In this study,
live camera videos were collected to obtain
data on gait synchronization in Homo sapiens,
the closest extant species to A. afarensis.
The data showed that when two humans with a
large height difference walked alongside each
other, with (at least) one of the pair having
their arm around the other’s shoulder or back,
adult male–female pairs (couples) frequently
synchronized their gait, but parent–offspring
pairs did not, whereas both couples and
parent–offspring seldom synchronized when
they walked side by side without connection
or with handholding. Two individuals only
maintained a narrow and constant distance like
that between the Laetoli footprints when they
walked with an arm-around connection.
Therefore, assuming that A. afarensis had the
same gait synchronization tendency as
H. sapiens, the trackmakers were more likely
to be an adult male–female pair than a
parent–offspring one.

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