Image: iT@c
Monty Python’s Minister of Silly Walks has been making audiences laugh for 50 years, and now we have a sense of just how silly his walking style is. An analysis shows that John Cleese’s iconic walk is about 6.7 times more variable – sillier – than standard human walking.
For biologists who study the origin and evolution of bipedal walking, the Ministry of Silly Walks sketch is famous, says Nathaniel Dominy at Dartmouth College, New Hampshire. It gives a sense of some of the extreme variation in walking style that is possible in a two-legged hominin.
Dominy says the video is usually played in classes just for laughs, but he and his Dartmouth colleague Erin Butler decided to give it some more serious study. Read more on newscientist.com…
