With spring in the air, summer approaching and the Canadian geese flying overhead it might be difficult for some of us not to ponder the history of hunting. Guns are the predominant weapon of choice, with some bow hunters in the mix, but if we think way back before man had projectile weapons how was it possible to hunt down and kill a speeding animal once it was frightened?
Two men have a theory and it was featured in the science journal Nature. Their names are Dr. Daniel Lieberman of Harvard University and Dr. Dennis Bramble of the University of Utah. We are poor sprinters, but can jog for long distances to have exceptional endurance. Animals are excellent sprinters.
Certain animals also have issues with regulating their body temperature and so can be more easily run into exhaustion. This sounds obvious, everyone can be run into exhaustion, but it’s a little bit more interesting.
Some animals can’t pant while galloping or running. Panting is the way a number of animals regulate their body temperatures. We do it mostly by sweating. If a dog is at a gallop it will need to stop to rest, pant and take time in the shade. If we are dog owners ourselves, it might be interesting to observe if this is true when our dog is running quicker than a trot. Does a dog never pant while it is running?
The two scientists speculate we are built for endurance running, better than other bipedal primates. We can run long distances at a jog or trot and therefore can hunt down animals by giving them hyperthermia. Animals that can run long distances at a trot, such as a dog, quickly overheat when running long distances at a gallop, although we cannot outrun all specialized quadrupeds.
The most interesting way to look at this idea is we can, on foot, catch an animal that is so much faster than we will ever be. It’s thought, using endurance running, humans can outrun the majority of animals on the planet over long distances, but this is not always a single human. This hunting practice does occur in groups.
On the web there is information on persistence hunting and how it was and is practised even in some places today. A group of hunters may track an animal for long distances with the intention of keeping the beast away from the shade and prolonged rest. By continuously running the animal between a trot and a gallop the men may force the animal into exhaustion and eventual collapse, by keeping it moving in the heat. Historically, this may have been how a hunter could get close enough for the kill without projectiles and to attack a downed animal.
Even though a large amount of animals sweat, including horses, some are not as good at sweating as we are. According to B.C. Dairy, cows do sweat but don’t have many active sweat glands and their main way of losing heat is through their breath.
Were we born to be marathon runners? Is this how we first hunted before we had traps and weapons like spears, nets and arrows? Perhaps a fun experiment would be to see if we could outrun a cow or even better, a horse.
