A Turkish family walks on all fours. The five brothers and sisters, aged between 18 and 34 and from a village in Hatay Province, south Turkey, have fascinated scientists across the world since they were first discovered in 2005.
They get around by ‘bear crawling’ on their feet and palms – and can only stand upright for a short time, with both knees and head flexed.
Scientists claimed the siblings’ walk is a byproduct of a hereditary condition that causes cerebellar hypoplasia, complicating their sense of balance.
To adapt to this condition, the family have developed quadrupedalism, they said.
However, Turkish evolutionary biologist Uner Tan previously claimed that the siblings, who also appear to have brain damage, suffered from a condition called Uner Tan Syndrome.
He declared that people affected by this syndrome walk with a quadrupedal locomotion and are afflicted with ‘primitive’ speech and severe mental retardation, suggesting ‘reverse evolution’.
The siblings, whose parents walk normally, were first filmed in the 2006 BBC2 documentary, The Family That Walks On All Fours, which explored the science and story behind their plight.
While two of the daughters and a son have only ever walked on two palms and two feet, another son and daughter sometimes manage to walk upright.
The five siblings, who have 14 other brothers and sisters who are not affected by the condition, spend most of their time sitting outside the family’s basic rural home.
However, one brother travels to the local village where he engages in basic interactions with people.
Agencies
