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Subject: Re: Man is evolutionarily adapted to running long distances From: herdtrackerV2 posted Sun, Sep 27 2009, 11:30am  I think this report draws a bad conclusion. It ignores the five toes on your feet and the soft tendons underneath. Without rubber soles, how far could a human get without injury? Second, where is the evidence that humans ever ran to hunt? They used trickery, weaponry, and riding other animals. It does not seem that humans ran to hunt, it seems more likely they would run to get away. Subject: Re: Man is evolutionarily adapted to running long distances From: TonyCannon posted Sun, Sep 27 2009, 12:22pm  I agree. The main thing that separates "us" from "them" is our brains, not our speed. Humans are ridiculously slow when compared to the rest of the animal kingdom. When was the last time a hunter ran down a deer? Subject: Re: Man is evolutionarily adapted to running long distances From: hroth posted Sun, Sep 27 2009, 2:42pm  It's relatively easy for a hunter to run down a deer, over the course of a day. Again - deer are good for short distances, but dogs and people can jog all day long. Subject: Re: Man is evolutionarily adapted to running long distances From: TonyCannon posted Sun, Sep 27 2009, 3:40pm  Dogs? You mean the creatures humans trained to hunt for them? I've never, ever heard of a hunter running down a deer under any circumstances. Actually, no one else has, either. Google search results: "hunting a deer with a knife" - 1 result "killing a deer with a knife" - 6 results "hunting a deer by hand" - 0 results "killing a deer by hand" - 5 results If it were relatively easy, wouldn't more people be doing it? Subject: Re: Man is evolutionarily adapted to running long distances From: badger man posted Sun, Sep 27 2009, 4:10pm  I've heard that the Kalahari bushmen hunt antelope on foot which we'd all agree are pretty fast. Subject: Re: Man is evolutionarily adapted to running long distances From: TonyCannon posted Sun, Sep 27 2009, 5:26pm  Slight jogging and/or walking for 5 hours isn't what I'd call "running something down". And evolutionarily speaking, when was the last time someone in Steve Prefontaine's family had to run down an antelope in such a manner? If this were due to an evolutionary need, I'd think we'd have lost most of the Gift long, long ago. If anything, it's probably just a biological bi-product of our physiology; a coincidence. Subject: Re: Man is evolutionarily adapted to running long distances From: hroth posted Sun, Sep 27 2009, 8:28pm  Family history form my Osage ancestors says that was done before we had horses. A number of old articles come up when I search 'can humans run down deer.' Subject: Re: Man is evolutionarily adapted to running long distances From: luna1580 posted Sun, Sep 27 2009, 8:45pm  tony, the most recent humans to hunt in this way are the tarahumara, an indigenous group from northern mexico. google them, or just follow any of the links i've added throughout this thread...... it's not "easy", but there is some evidence supporting it. Subject: Re: Man is evolutionarily adapted to running long distances From: hroth posted Sun, Sep 27 2009, 9:11pm  Apache, too - pick anyone late to get horses, or lived in areas where horses weren't so useful, like mountains. Subject: Re: Man is evolutionarily adapted to running long distances From: Rangoon posted Tue, Sep 29 2009, 3:44pm  Tony the major means of adaptation for survival in humans is through the creation of artifacts. When was the last time a hunter ran down a deer? In what an f250 or a 4x4 quad artifact? Subject: Re: Man is evolutionarily adapted to running long distances From: lowredx posted Wed, Oct 7 2009, 12:27am  Ran down or ran over? Subject: Re: Man is evolutionarily adapted to running long distances From: Dante_Apollyon posted Sun, Sep 27 2009, 12:24pm  The Tarahumaras' word for themselves, Raramuri, means "runners on foot" in their native tongue according to some early ethnographers like Norwegian Carl Lumholtz, though this interpretation has not been fully agreed upon. With widely dispersed settlements, these people developed a tradition of long-distance running for intervillage communication and transportation. The long-distance running tradition also has ceremonial and competitive aspects. Often, male runners kick wooden balls as they run in "foot throwing" competitions, and females use a stick and hoop. The foot throwing races are relays where the balls are kicked by the runners and relayed to the next runner while teammates run ahead to the next relay point. These races can last anywhere from a few hours for a short race to a couple of days without a break. The Tarahumara also practice persistence hunting, using their ability to run extremely long distances (sometimes as far as 160 km) to catch animals such as deer; the animals eventually tire and slow down, and the Tarahumara get close enough to the animal to kill it. See "Born to Run" by Christopher McDougall (published 2009-05-05) which deals with the Tarahumara's participation in long distance races in the USA. Subject: Re: Man is evolutionarily adapted to running long distances From: luna1580 posted Sun, Sep 27 2009, 7:43pm  i was just going to suggest that exact book! Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen : Christopher McDougall Subject: Re: Man is evolutionarily adapted to running long distances From: luna1580 posted Sun, Sep 27 2009, 8:08pm  you are wrong. think about how long the human foot evolved unshod and later with a minimal sole protection (see pic above). we've only been wearing "advanced" shoes with lifted heels and all kinds of "shock absorbing" materials for a few hundred years, and the "advanced" running shoes for less than fifty. 100's of thousands of years went into refining a foot shape that works best without all that stuff. this website is am amazing resource for barefoot running and even people running barefoot ultra marathons: Barefootted.com it also contains a lot of information about the tarahumara people of mexico, the only people in modern times who claim the ability to "run down" game with-in their own recent history, they are still amazing runners... Tarahumara Subject: Re: Man is evolutionarily adapted to running long distances From: herdtrackerV2 posted Mon, Sep 28 2009, 8:04pm  Odds are looking that I am wrong. It must be one of those areas that was glossed over as boring in the history books. Subject: Re: Man is evolutionarily adapted to running long distances From: spoOklight posted Mon, Sep 28 2009, 8:31pm  I heard somewhere from various biologist friends that the human spine is still not fully capable of supporting us a a "true" upright walking species. That's why so many people have herniated discs and other back injuries compared to other animals. Has anyone else heard this before? Subject: Re: Man is evolutionarily adapted to running long distances From: EastTxSwamp posted Thu, Oct 1 2009, 1:13pm  Don't people who grow up without shoes have naturally broader feet caused by their environment? I used to run 8 miles a day, 13 on Saturdays, but I was wearing good Nikes. I used to pass a group of ROTC guys every morning before dawn, and they were doing the same run (the other way) as I was doing, but with combat boots on. My point is, can the feet of our species (and the knees for that matter) adapt to a variety of conditions? Swamp (who now only runs from the porch to the cooler)

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