Our ape-men forefathers had no obvious natural weapons in the struggle 21 survival in the open. They had neither the powerful teeth nor the strong claws of the big cats. They could not 22 with the bear, whose strength, speed and claws 23 an impressive "small-fire" weaponry. They could not even defend themselves 21 running swiftly like the horses, zebras or small animals. If the ape-men had attempted to compete on those terms 25 , they would have been 26 to failure and extinction. But they were 27 with enormous concealed advantages of a kind not possessed by any of their competitors.In the search 28 the pickings of the forest, the ape-men had 29 efficient stereoscopic vision and a sense of colour that the animals of the grasslands did not possess. The ability to see clearly at close range permitted the ape-men to study practical problems 30 that lay far 31 the reach of the original inhabitants of the grassland. Good long-distance sight was 32 another matter.Lack of long-distance vision had not been a problem for forest-dwelling apes and monkeys because the higher the viewpoint, the greater the range of sight—so 33 they had had to do was climb a tree. Out in the open, however, this simple solution was not 34 . Climbing a hill would have helped, but in many places the ground was 35 . The ape-men 36 the only possible solution. They reared up as high as possible on their hind limbs and began to walk upright.This vital change of physical position brought about considerable 37 . It was extremely unstable and it meant that the already slow ape-men became slower still. 38 , they persevered and their bone structure gradually became 39 to the new, unstable position that 40 them the name Homo Erectus, upright man.
A. obtained
B. called
C. deserved
D. earned