Posted on 11/17/2004 11:06:41 AM PST by ElkGroveDan
LONDON (Reuters) - Humans were born to run and evolved from ape-like creatures into the way they look today probably because of the need to cover long distances and compete for food, scientists said on Wednesday.
From tendons and ligaments in the legs and feet that act like springs and skull features that help prevent overheating, to well-defined buttocks that stabilize the body, the human anatomy is shaped for running.
"We do it because we are good at it. We enjoy it and we have all kinds of specializations that permit us to run well," said Daniel Liberman, a professor of anthropology at Harvard University in Massachusetts.
"There are all kinds of features that we see in the human body that are critical for running," he told Reuters.
Liberman and Dennis Bramble, a biology professor at the University of Utah, studied more than two dozen traits that increase humans' ability to run. Their research is reported in the science journal Nature.
They suspect modern humans evolved from their ape-like ancestors about 2 million years ago so they could hunt and scavenge for food over large distances.
But the development of physical features that enabled humans to run entailed a trade off -- the loss of traits that were useful for being a tree-climber.
"We are very confident that strong selection for running -- which came at the expense of the historical ability to live in trees -- was instrumental in the origin of the modern human body form," Bramble said in a statement.
AGAINST THE GRAIN The conventional theory is that running was a by-product of bipedalism, or the ability to walk upright on two legs, that evolved in ape-like human ancestors called Australopithecus at least 4.5 million years ago.
But Liberman and Bramble argue that it took a few million more years for the running physique to evolve, so the ability to walk cannot explain the transition.
"There were 2.5 million to 3 million years of bipedal walking without ever looking like a human, so is walking going to be what suddenly transforms the hominid body?" said Bramble.
"We're saying 'no, walking won't do that, but running will."'
If natural selection did not favor running, the scientists believe humans would still look a lot like apes.
"Running has substantially shaped human evolution. Running made us human -- at least in the anatomical sense," Bramble added.
Among the features that set humans apart from apes to make them good runners are longer legs to take longer strides, shorter forearms to enable the upper body to counterbalance the lower half during running and larger disks which allow for better shock absorption.
Big buttocks are also important.
"Have you ever looked at an ape? They have no buns," said Bramble.
Humans lean forward when they run and the buttocks "keep you from pitching over on your nose each time a foot hits the ground," he added.
can't imagine any human that could keep up with a wolf trotting along all day.
He only has to outrun OOG, his buddy.
Hey, how's things? We never finished our Peirceian discussion. Maybe some other time.
Isn't this "We can only observe things over an extended period of time," just too convenient an out?
If Christians were to pose (as some do) that you'll only know the truth of God over an extended period of time (beyond the limits of one's lifetime), anti-religionists would decry them as charlatans.
What makes my 'faith' any less 'faith' than your 'faith'?
Fast is as fast does. For long distance, there is not a land bound creature alive that can outrun a human being.
As a matter of fact, continental drift is being observed, at the rate of a few inches per year (or something like that).
An observable fact is different to a posited theory. Evolution is theory. Continental drift is fact.
This particular human was born to nap. I can point to all sorts of features I have that make me particularly well suited to it.
I don't know what I evolved from, but I'll consider that question in about 20 minutes.
Shalom.
What's truly amazing is that all of these things "evolved" without knowing what the final result was going to be...good runners. Larger disks wouldn't have been needed unless and until we were already running. Shorter forearms wouldn't have been needed unless and until we could balance upright.
We were designed to run.
I prefer a rifle.
> I prefer a rifle.
I prefer the Meat Department at the grocery store. Eh.
And it shows, on my ability to chase things down...
I think the reason we get along so well with dogs is because they are supremely tolerant of personal failings.
Shalom.
Thirteen marathons for me. Some of them were racewalking rather than running.
"well-defined buttocks"
Add another to the list for next Thursday.
> What makes my 'faith' any less 'faith' than your 'faith'?
"If it can't be expressed in figures, it is not science; it is opinion."
I have yet to meet the cold Bud or sack of Lays that I can't run down if I really put my mind to it.
Shalom.
There is that, but I've not found elk at my local grocery stores.
Does that include the pronghorn antelope, with an ability to sustain 30 to 40 mph over long distances?
That's a big differential to make up for a human running at 8 to 10 mph max.
Mark Twain:
There's lies, Damn lies, and then there's statistics.
Figures? or it figures!
Perhaps you have greater faith in the human calculator than do I.
> It's been said that these characteristics are one of the reasons we get along so well with dogs. We're the same kind of hunters.
Well, back in the day, humans and wolves were very direct competitors (still are in many ways, but they don't compete well against rifles). We would have encountered each other a LOT, and likely saw each other as The Enemy. And one approach humans have always had with the enemy is to incorporate them into the tribe. We turned our worst foe into our best friend. I don't think there's a culture on the planet that has had dealings with wolves that does not have folktales about their version of The Big Bad Wolf.
Explaining cats, though...
I think we just found the first legitimate candidate for a Darwin Award who didn't have to self-destruct.
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