Posted on 05/20/2011 7:34:35 PM PDT by SunkenCiv
Carrier's findings may also shed light on another mystery: why multiple studies have amply proven that -- statistically speaking, at least -- women find taller men more attractive. If downward blows strike harder, as Carrier's punching experiment suggested, a tall male has the advantage over a shorter contender. "Early in human evolution, an enhanced capacity to strike downward on an opponent may have given tall males a greater capacity to compete for mates and to defend their resources and offspring," he said. "If this were true, females who chose to mate with tall males would have had greater fitness for survival."
(Excerpt) Read more at history.com ...
|
· join list or digest · view topics · view or post blog · bookmark · post a topic · subscribe · |
|||
Antiquity Journal & archive Archaeologica Archaeology Archaeology Channel BAR Bronze Age Forum Discover Dogpile Eurekalert LiveScience Mirabilis.ca Nat Geographic PhysOrg Science Daily Science News Texas AM Yahoo Excerpt, or Link only? |
|
||
|
· Science topic · science keyword · Books/Literature topic · pages keyword · |
|||
Taller people have longer legs and can run from danger quicker, and chase target animals faster on the hunt.
The Sen/San people from South Africa were all professional midgets. They are ancestral to all the Europeans and East Asians ~ any “tallness” in these people came AFTER the African experience.
I’m not sure why women begin to stand upright; men did it so they would have better aim at the little white cakes in urinals.
Tall guys who can stand up have a better chance of seeing the chicks in the weeds.
It isn't clear to me that any sort of an ape or hominid would be capable of it.
This is one of the most ridiculous theories I’ve ever read! I would like to begin by making a modification to the question. If you accept that man was created by God, the question is not so much why did man stand upright but what was the advantage of walking upright? The best explanation I’ve read has to do with running. Yes, human are slower than many animals, but they excel in endurance. Running on 2 legs allows humans to run longer, because they can inhale with every stride, instead of every other stride like faster animals do. Doubling the number of times man inhales increases the oxygen uptake, and it is oxygen that allows for cellular respiration and the release of energy needed for running. See, for example, how central african natives used to hunt. They did not have the weapons to approach and kill a gazelle, but they could run it down, until the gazelle collapsed of exhaustion and the native was able to kill it with his knife. Humans walk on two legs because, in the unforgettable words of C. McDougal, they are born to run!
Uh, did anyone consider the matter of who has the longer REACH?
They have their theories.
I’m not sure why women begin to stand upright...
I have mine.
This is what real punching looks like...
It isn’t clear to me that any sort of an ape or hominid would be capable of it.
Once saw a kangaroo do that.
You mean they were paid to be short? Did they all work in the circus? As clowns or something?
It makes flinging your poo more accurate, too.
A roo which could do that would be worth millions of dollars. Why’d you let him go??
They were quite cute and adorable and got ALL the girls. There are something like 14 major lines of humanity (looking at the mtDNA). The San/Sen are ancestral to all of them ~ so, no, your ancient African ancestors weren’t Bantus at all. On the other hand, the Nilotic peoples of all varieties derive from the same folk as the European and East Asian people.
No, because they stand up straight they can punch better. Who cares? How much are we paying an academic to write about this?
THAT is hilarious.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.
