07 May 2009
Persistence Hunting
Several years ago while on a long drive I heard on the radio a segment of This American Life* in which a man explained his quest to run down antelope in the wild. It sounds ludicrous, since antelope can run 40 mph. But the key is that man is built for endurance running; most animals can only achieve short bursts of speed before becoming anaerobic.
As you watch this video of a man outrunning a kudu in the Kalahari, you may be viewing a scene that is essentially unchanged from a million years ago when Homo erectus evolved as a hunter of the plains.
* I just found the episode - "Running Down Antelope." It first aired in 1997, but is available for listening (free) at This American Life. The link will take you to a one-hour program; just skip to the 5-minute mark to hear the antelope venture. It's truly fascinating - and for those not familiar with TAL, a good introduction to (in my opinion) the best program on radio.
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running to hunt has been practiced earlier, reading your article I remembered a tidbit I heard about a Mexican marathon runner years ago and started googleling, this came up:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.redorbit.com/news/health/331110/mexican_indians_preserve_epic_endurance_race/
Wikipedia also knows this tribe: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tarahumara
The Energetic Paradox of Human Running and Hominid Evolution
ReplyDeleteby David R. Carrier
Endurance running and the evolution of Homo by Daniel Lieberman
humans are well adapted to run down food in the heat of the day despite their decidedly lacking sprinting abilities