Re: Homo Erectus was *not* a hunter/runner.

On Dec 10, 7:56 pm, "Claudius Denk" <claudiusd...@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:
"Lee Olsen" <paleoc...@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote

Couch potatoes may disagree, but people are fairly well built to run
in the heat.

In comparison to what, hedgehogs?

I'm not surprised that some people on this list do not know the
difference between a
hedghog and a kudu, although a hedgehog would make a tidy snack also.

"He showed that even the slowest human runners could, with even a
slight head start, outrun lions, cheetahs, leopards, hyenas, and wild
dogs, not by speed, but by out distancing them (Donald Mitchell)."
QUARRY CLOSING IN ON THE MISSING LINK by Boaz, Noel T. 1993 (ISBN:
0029045010)

http://tinyurl.com/32ezcs

http://www.chimpcollaboratory.org/news/run.asp
"From our spring-loaded ligaments to our muscular behinds to our
ability to sweat, the human
body took the ideal shape of a long-distance runner starting some 2
million years ago, the researchers say.
The long, lean build helped us scavenge widely scattered kills and
could also have been an
advantage when hunting down prey over long distances."

http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn12381-duplicate-genes-help-huma...
"Human beings can run long distances because we carry multiple copies
of a gene
that helps supply our cells with energy, a new study suggests. That
supports
the idea that endurance running gave our human ancestors an
evolutionary edge."

http://www.mnh.si.edu/anthro/humanorigins/ha/WT15k.html
"The hips were more slender and adapted to walking and running over
long distances."

"The general correspondence in body shape of KNM-WT 15000 with modern
Nilotic populations introduces another point
reguarding climatic adaptation and body form among humans. Both
comparative geographic studies and direct physiological
tests indicate that humidity is an important factor in determining the
efficiency of heat loss (Ruff, 1993).

This strongly implies that KNM_WT 15000, with his long, linear
physique, would not have been well adapted for a reletively closed wet
environment,
but rather would have been limited to open or at least mixed
environments.
Specifically, longer, more linear bodies are better adapted for heat
loss in dry open environments, where evaporative heat loss from
sweating is very effective. All modern-day tall "elongated" African
(e.g., Nilotics) are restricted to such environments."
Alan Walker and Richard Leakey editors. 1993 The Nariokotome Homo
Erectus Skeleton. Harvard University Press, Cambridge

http://www.naturalhistorymag.com/master.html?http://www.naturalhistorymag.com/1206/1206_samplings.html
"In fact, Australian Aborigines and various Native American and
African groups have traditionally
practiced "persistence hunting," chasing antelopes or other game in
the midday heat, often for hours, until
the animals overheat and collapse."

http://tinyurl.com/7u5wo
" In fact, he walked and ran with better mechanics than we do today.
The mechanics
of his femur, femur head, pelvis, and lower back are superior to those
of today."

Leakey (1994:55): "Two independent lines of research converged on the
conclusion
that early Homo was an efficient runner, the first human species to be
so."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/cbbcnews/hi/animals/newsid_1804000/1804830.stm
Man beats horse in 50 mile desert race
.

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