endurance running

Stephen Munro wrote:

I've recently reread the ER paper. I agree, it is very short on evidence,
mainly comparing human walking with human running, and looking at Homo
erectus as opposed to earlier australopiths.
Some major limitations of the paper IMO are:
The paper assumes walking and endurance running were the only types of
locomotion and therefore makes assumptions such as: "a few derived features
of Homo that improve ER capabilities (notably forearm shortening and
decoupling of the head and pectoral girdle) are unrelated to walking, but
would have hindered arboreal locomotor capabilities."
The paper also unquestionably accepts the prevailing paradigm of the "open,
semi-arid environments apparently inhabited by early Homo." In fact,
according to a very limited study I conducted for my Honours thesis last
year, Homo remains are found in areas that could have been within the
vicinity of open, arid habitats (Camels, Gazella sp. and Oryx sp.), but
there are of course also many taxa indicating large, permanent water bodies
(fish, hippos, bivalves etc.). In other words, this assumption of open
habitats is at best, IMO, based on ambiguous evidence, but very difficult to
prove that open, arid areas didn't exist (camels?).
The authors admit that ".humans are mediocre runners in several respects."
"Even elite human sprinters are comparatively slow." ".running is more
costly for humans than for most mammals." ".human runners are less
manoeuvrable and lack many structural modifications characteristic of most
quadrupedal cursors such as elongate digitigrade feet and short proximal
limb segments."
The methodology of the paper is limited because the authors compare early
Homo only to Homo sapiens and not to other animals. They naturally conclude,
therefore, that since Homo sapiens can endurance run, early Homo, with many
similar features, must have been an endurance runner too (the same, of
course, AFAICS, could be said about swimming and diving).
The authors ask "whether, when and why long-distance running may have
played a role in human evolution."
They also ask "whether long-distance running was an important behaviour in
human evolution or merely the by-product of enhanced walking capabilities."
They might have also asked if it was a by-product of long distance swimming
(stamina) IMO.
They ask "Why would early Homo run long distances when walking is easier,
safer and less costly?" They could just as well have asked: Why would early
Homo travel long distances?
In fact they admit that "ER is not common among modern hunter-gatherers."
They also admit that endurance running based hunting, although occasionally
seen in modern humans, might have been "too energetically expensive and
low-yield for the benefits to have outweighed the costs."
They conclude by speculating: "If early hominids were regularly scavenging
marrow, brain and other tissues from carcasses, then ER would have helped
hominids to compete more effectively for these scattered and ephemeral
resources."
And they say: "ER may have made possible a diet rich in fats and proteins
thought to account for the unique human combination of large bodies, small
guts, big brains and small teeth"
They fail to explain, however, why we lost our olfactory skills, and why we
evolved smaller teeth (hyaenas and dogs have large teeth). Moreover, there
is no evidence that the human gut is fundamentally different to any of the
other great apes AFAIK. Hyaenas aren't large bodied and nor are human
marathon runners (Homo erectus had denser bones than Homo sapiens making it
heavier). Hyaenas and dogs do not have very large brains, like humans.
Furthermore, if this "diet rich in fats and proteins" could only be procured
through endurance running, are we therefore to assume that not only did they
run long distances to gain first use of scavenged carcasses, but that they
then had to transport it equally long distances to feed the infants, elderly
and frail who would certainly not have been capable of long distance
endurance running?


:-)

Marc Verhaegen

http://www.onelist.com/community/AAT



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