Interesting article about an experiment where marathon runners run down an antelope. The antelope is supposedly the second fastest animal on the planet, yet the theory is that Humans could still outrun them. because their speed is only sprinting speed and is short term. But Humans can run for very long distances. So Humans would just run them down to exhaustion then kill them. http://outsideonline.com/adventure/travel-ga-201105-persistance-hunting-sidwcmdev_155715.html It is interesting because when someone says "outrun" you would think they must mean sprinting. But endurance running can be used to outrun animals as well. And apparently Humans are some of the best endurance runners in the animal kingdom.
Yeah its a good point many do not realize, but its a main reason for our existence. We totally out-hunted the Neandertals.
I've heard about this before. Pretty cool deal, never would have thought that we'd just jog an animal to exhaustion but whatever works!
Yup this was our main method of hunting. Unfortunately most humans today get winded after jogging 1 block.
ThatÂ’s how we hunted for thousands of years. We are a furless biped that sweats. Next to flying we have the most efficient form of locomotion. Bipedal locomotion has been described as a series of interrupted falls. While those dumb quadrupeds have to power themselves forward we let gravity do most of the work. Anyone who likes to hike and has dogs knows this. Your dogs tire before you do as long as your are in descent shape.
We're faster than a speeding bullet. more powerful than a locomotive...able to leap tall buildings in a single bound. WE'RE HUMANS!
if or when the runners finally catch the antelope. [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nD5zjUbWpXY"]YouTube - Deer Gets Revenge on Hunter[/ame]
A Pronghorn Antelope runs at a speed of 60 mph. So the great human hunter paces an antelope doing 60. Then what? Jumps the antelope? So you're cruzin' along at 60 mph...make your move and jump the antelope....and miss it. Then you hit those pointy rocks and boulders head on at 60 mph..no helmet. After you recover, some months later..still hungry..you sit down and use that other great hunting tool...your brain. And you invent the 30.06 with a scope.
This works because humans sweat to keep cool, while other animals rely on panting, which is not nearly as effective, especially when running. Prolonged exertion causes them to overheat and collapse. That's the theory, anyway.
Yeah, if only humans had a way of tracking animals...like if animals left footprints or something. Hmmm.
Which is why no one has ever caught...or actually seen, a Unicorn. No footprints. Plus, they're very slow. Humans sprinting by at 60 mph don't even know that they're there.
Yup, even in the Prehistoric age....They would separate one animal from a pack and chase it for days. They would finally approach it when it dropped, but VERY carefully....LOL It seems when you separate a pack animal from it's pack they get very paranoid and skiddish. I assume they are use to the security of the pack, so they stay on the run for days...They eventually just walk up and kill it.
This is right. If it is hot, as in a desert then the advantage is huge. The weapon used to kill the animal is not important as it would be close to death anyway. Not sure why this is a topic. It has been known for years.
No. That doesn't sound quite right from what I've read. They certainly wouldn't chase one little antelope or deer for days. To much energy expended. Ancient humans, inured to the harsh elements would've been stronger, faster, and far more capable than the weaklings we have become today. They had senses we would call superhuman by comparison and only the Bushmen of Africa or New Guinea have anything comparable. They could do this in a day easy or over night. They had to be efficient because when food is a chancy thing. You have to conserve every calorie you expend. Most african bushmen don't go out for more than a couple days hunting. The main migration comes following the herds constantly on migratory patterns.
This has been known for decades. This is how hunter-gatherers hunted. They didn't chase that (*)(*)(*)(*) down, they just injured it enough to slow it down and separate it from the pack, then walked it down over several hours or, in some cases, days. Anthropologists had observed precisely that behavior back in the 1960s. Societies with access to poisons and predictable migration routes could do some pretty impressive logistical feats--like tracking down one poisoned animal they had poisoned days earlier.
Well, not everyone has become a weakling. For instance, the Tarahumara Tribe in northern Mexico may run several hundred miles over the course of a couple days. And they do it in mountainous terrain. But, they do it for communication and transportation between their villages, and for sport, not for persistence hunting.
>>>It's called "persistance hunting", and the Indians of northern Mexico still do it. Nothing outruns a human over time and long distance unless it has feathers or scales.