Posted on 11/17/2004 11:06:41 AM PST by ElkGroveDan
LONDON (Reuters) - Humans were born to run and evolved from ape-like creatures into the way they look today probably because of the need to cover long distances and compete for food, scientists said on Wednesday.
From tendons and ligaments in the legs and feet that act like springs and skull features that help prevent overheating, to well-defined buttocks that stabilize the body, the human anatomy is shaped for running.
"We do it because we are good at it. We enjoy it and we have all kinds of specializations that permit us to run well," said Daniel Liberman, a professor of anthropology at Harvard University in Massachusetts.
"There are all kinds of features that we see in the human body that are critical for running," he told Reuters.
Liberman and Dennis Bramble, a biology professor at the University of Utah, studied more than two dozen traits that increase humans' ability to run. Their research is reported in the science journal Nature.
They suspect modern humans evolved from their ape-like ancestors about 2 million years ago so they could hunt and scavenge for food over large distances.
But the development of physical features that enabled humans to run entailed a trade off -- the loss of traits that were useful for being a tree-climber.
"We are very confident that strong selection for running -- which came at the expense of the historical ability to live in trees -- was instrumental in the origin of the modern human body form," Bramble said in a statement.
AGAINST THE GRAIN The conventional theory is that running was a by-product of bipedalism, or the ability to walk upright on two legs, that evolved in ape-like human ancestors called Australopithecus at least 4.5 million years ago.
But Liberman and Bramble argue that it took a few million more years for the running physique to evolve, so the ability to walk cannot explain the transition.
"There were 2.5 million to 3 million years of bipedal walking without ever looking like a human, so is walking going to be what suddenly transforms the hominid body?" said Bramble.
"We're saying 'no, walking won't do that, but running will."'
If natural selection did not favor running, the scientists believe humans would still look a lot like apes.
"Running has substantially shaped human evolution. Running made us human -- at least in the anatomical sense," Bramble added.
Among the features that set humans apart from apes to make them good runners are longer legs to take longer strides, shorter forearms to enable the upper body to counterbalance the lower half during running and larger disks which allow for better shock absorption.
Big buttocks are also important.
"Have you ever looked at an ape? They have no buns," said Bramble.
Humans lean forward when they run and the buttocks "keep you from pitching over on your nose each time a foot hits the ground," he added.
You sure you've been "jogging" and not "running"? Jogging is an unnatural act, more like marching really fast than it is like anything else, and very few people actually do it. Fortunately. It'll really muck up your legs ... running, in which up-and-down movement is minimized, is a whole different sort of thing. We're pretty good at it, and optimized for endurance. We're predators; our running is for chasing prey, not for evading predators.
I love running. Funny thing, the eliptical machine actually has improved my form and is helping to make me faster.
Just finished my second marathon, and have never had shin splints or a stress fracture. And there is no evidence that "jogging" causes spine problems.
"Humans were born to run..."
Humans were meant to be born.
Bull puckey. I hate running. It kills my knees and ankles. Only pointy-headed fitness freaks think running is good for you.
Humans are distance runners, not sprinters. As such they can run almost any quadruped on the planet quite literally into the ground. The article doesn't mention the major reason for this, which is that the human ability to shed body heat is one of the most efficient of any animal.
The Bushmen and other "primitive" hunters routinely run down antelopes and other speedy animals simply by continuing to track the animal and not allow them to rest and cool down. The result is that the animal eventually drops due to heat stress, essentially cooking itself from the inside out. The Bushman trots up, puts a poison arrow in from a safe distance and waits for the animal to die, or anyway get weak enough that butchering can safely begin.
I find Elaine Morgan's Aquatic Ape Theory to be the most credible.
Define "macro-evolution." Posit the mechanism by which "micro-evolution" ceases before becoming "macro-evolution." Once you've done this, we'll entertain your comments on the matter.
Sounds to me this researcher has a bum fetish
Probably has the wrong shoes and is running too much. I weigh 195-200 pounds and cannot run more than every other to every third day. I run between 7-8 miles each time. It is a lot of stress because of my large frame so I allow ample time to heal and make sure that the shoes I am wearing are not worn out (past 250 miles or over 4 months old) and that they are the correct shoes for my foot type. Also, I exercise (between runs) cardiovascularly on machines. I also lift weights and eat somewhat well. I find juices and fruits give me an extra boost of long sustaining energy.
See Kate Run. Run Kate Run.
True. About the only animals that can beat us over long distances are sled dogs -- and they don't do well over 60 degrees F.
I stand erect and have an opposable thumb so that I can get the beer off of the top shelf at the liquor store.
No mention of our knees.....the first thing to go under the pounding of running.
And one of the advantages that we have in doing this is that we can carry a certain amount of food and/or water to sustain us, which the animal cannot.
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