Persistence Hunting
Was endurance running our competitive edge?
The central premise of Christopher McDougall’s wonderful book, Born to Run, is that our bodies evolved to outrun game. Game can’t sweat to get rid of body heat like we can. Although we can't beat an antelope in a sprint, if we keep chasing one over a long distance it will eventually overheat and collapse.
Here, the San of the Kalahari show exactly how persistence hunting is done:
Bramble and Lieberman first posited (PDF) the idea that endurance running is a derived capability of the genus Homo, originating about 2 million years ago, and may have been instrumental in the evolution of the human body form.
In other words, long distance running may have been our competitive edge. Unlike other primates, our tendinous legs are like huge springs.
Marathoners and Ultramarathoners are just doing what were built for.
Sources:
Tags: #Biology #Anthropolgy #Running
Image Credit: Andrew Moir
