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To: ColdWater

It’s too late to find you data. But I can give you a very quick bit of reasoning.

two legs are more efficient than 4. A human foot is the most efficient foot in existence. (hopping bipeds have very efficient leg sinews...ie kangaroos and such)

straight legs are more efficient than bent legs. A straight legs resists gravity(at rest not in motion) primarily by compression forces resisted by bone...NO ENERGY EXPENDITURES REQUIRED. A bent leg resists gravity by way of continuous tension forces in muscles that resist bending of the bent joints.

A human being is essentially a pole sitting atop two pole like legs. A quadruped is essentially a beam held up by two crooked poles at each end of the beam. The beam is held straight by constant muscle action, and the 4 crooked poles are held up by constant muscle action. Muscle action IS CONSTANT CALORIC CONSUMPTION.

Humans have more stored body fat as a percentage of body weight than do horses.

In a death march between a human and a horse, the human would choose a speed slow enough to take advantage of his “at rest” efficiency advantage over bent leg quadrupeds. Also, a human’s ability to carry small amounts of food and water on his back or around his neck is a huge advantage. Maybe that’s cheating, but a human has the ability to cheat. A horse does not.

So the death march becomes a starvation contest in which the human is permitted a small amount of cheating and the horse is not...and the human has a more efficient body structure...and the human has more fat stores.

It’s no contest.


76 posted on 10/30/2009 10:04:03 PM PDT by mamelukesabre (Si Vis Pacem Para Bellum (If you want peace prepare for war))
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To: mamelukesabre
It’s too late to find you data.

Dismissed.

77 posted on 10/30/2009 10:05:57 PM PDT by ColdWater ("The theory of evolution really has no bearing on what I'm trying to accomplish with FR anyway. ")
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To: mamelukesabre
Joe carrying a rider covered 1800 miles in 31 days. How long would you walker take?
90 posted on 10/30/2009 10:38:18 PM PDT by ColdWater ("The theory of evolution really has no bearing on what I'm trying to accomplish with FR anyway. ")
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