Humans can outrun most animals?

Discussion in 'Science' started by Sadistic-Savior, Apr 25, 2011.

  1. Sadistic-Savior

    Sadistic-Savior New Member Past Donor

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    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.
     
  2. devilsadvocate

    devilsadvocate New Member

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    Yeah its a good point many do not realize, but its a main reason for our existence.

    We totally out-hunted the Neandertals.
     
  3. My Fing ID

    My Fing ID Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    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!
     
  4. TheTaoOfBill

    TheTaoOfBill Well-Known Member

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    Yup this was our main method of hunting. Unfortunately most humans today get winded after jogging 1 block.
     
  5. the_recruit

    the_recruit New Member

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    yeah it's called persistence hunting
     
  6. Windigo

    Windigo Banned

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    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.
     
  7. ronmatt

    ronmatt New Member

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    We're faster than a speeding bullet. more powerful than a locomotive...able to leap tall buildings in a single bound.
    WE'RE HUMANS!​


    [​IMG]
     
  8. LibertarianFTW

    LibertarianFTW Well-Known Member

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    Very interesting. I suppose this is another sign that we were meant to HUNT! :D
     
  9. dudeman

    dudeman New Member

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    if or when the runners finally catch the antelope.

    [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nD5zjUbWpXY"]YouTube - Deer Gets Revenge on Hunter[/ame]
     
  10. ronmatt

    ronmatt New Member

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    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.
     
  11. oldjar07

    oldjar07 Active Member

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    Humans may be able to run farther, but the human probably wouldn't know which way the antelope went.
     
  12. Forest119

    Forest119 New Member

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    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.
     
  13. Sadistic-Savior

    Sadistic-Savior New Member Past Donor

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    Yeah, if only humans had a way of tracking animals...like if animals left footprints or something. Hmmm.
     
  14. ronmatt

    ronmatt New Member

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    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.
     
  15. TheTaoOfBill

    TheTaoOfBill Well-Known Member

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    It is now a goal of mine to stalk and kill a deer using nothing but my legs and a spear lol.
     
  16. flounder

    flounder In Memoriam Past Donor

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    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.
     
  17. ValmirZz

    ValmirZz New Member

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    The human body have no limits, Just need Motivation to do things...
     
  18. ronmatt

    ronmatt New Member

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    Spear? I don got no spear....I don need no stinkin' spear.
     
  19. the_recruit

    the_recruit New Member

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    In the open savanna, you would. Which is exactly where we evolved this technique.
     
  20. robot

    robot Active Member

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    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.
     
  21. SiliconMagician

    SiliconMagician Banned

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    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.
     
  22. Someone

    Someone New Member

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    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.
     
  23. Forest119

    Forest119 New Member

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    The same reason they still teach basic arithmetic in school - everyone has to learn it sometime.
     
  24. Forest119

    Forest119 New Member

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    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.
     
  25. Phoebe Bump

    Phoebe Bump New Member

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    >>>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.
     

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