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Science

Humans Born to Run 83

Posted by michael from the from-richard-dawson dept.
chia_monkey writes "This article in MSNBC says humans were born to run. 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. The article also goes on to talk about our rumps: Big buttocks are also important. 'Have you ever looked at an ape? They have no buns,' said Bramble."
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Humans Born to Run More

Humans Born to Run

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  • So..Sir Mixalot was right after all..... (Score:5, Funny)

    by venom600 ( 527627 ) on Friday November 19, 2004 @01:32PM (#10866486) Homepage Journal
    Big buttocks are also important.

    I'll be damned.

  • Anyone else notice... (Score:3, Funny)

    by oldosadmin ( 759103 ) on Friday November 19, 2004 @01:35PM (#10866538) Homepage
    That the chick pictured in TFA doesn't have a big butt?

    (disclaimer: she's still cute, but that's funny)

  • Springsteen was right (Score:5, Funny)

    by Drunken_Jackass ( 325938 ) on Friday November 19, 2004 @01:36PM (#10866543) Homepage
    Damnit, baby, we were born to run.

  • Big butts on slashdot (Score:5, Funny)

    by neosake ( 655724 ) on Friday November 19, 2004 @01:38PM (#10866569) Homepage
    I'm willing to bet that most big buts reading /. aren't from running...

    ... well, at least in my case that is.

  • My Eyes! (Score:5, Funny)

    by DLWormwood ( 154934 ) <[moc.em] [ta] [doowmrow]> on Friday November 19, 2004 @01:40PM (#10866609) Homepage
    Have you ever looked at an ape? They have no buns,' said Bramble.

    I've looked at apes before, but not like that.

    Ew. Off to use some mental floss.

    • Re:My Eyes! (Score:3, Interesting)

      by Anonymous Coward

      Have you ever looked at an ape? They have no buns,' said Bramble.

      Well, I can't say that I have but...

      I've heard that the reason why men are attracted to women who wear bright red lipstick is because it's a throwback to how the rear end of a female ape gets red when she's horny and ready to mate. Seing a red round object triggers the same sex drive in us that it did our prehistoric ancestors. So when you are thinking of, ahem, enjoying a woman's full, red lips, it's like your homo erectus part wants to

      • Re:My Eyes! (Score:5, Interesting)

        by Holi ( 250190 ) on Friday November 19, 2004 @02:07PM (#10866990)
        I've heard it a little differently, that during arousal a women's lips (and other parts of her body) become flushed and swollen with blood. Red lipstick and collegen treatment are just designed to give women the look of permanent sexual arousal.

      • Re:My Eyes! (Score:4, Funny)

        by DLWormwood ( 154934 ) <[moc.em] [ta] [doowmrow]> on Friday November 19, 2004 @02:49PM (#10867524) Homepage
        Hmmmm. I have the feeling that I just made a bad situation worse...

        Thank you, Desmond Morris! Geez...

        • Curse Desmond Morris! Since I read about the aquatic ape theory, I'm sold. It explains everything, neatly. This running-around with spears explanation just doesn't make sense.
      • >I've heard that the reason why men are attracted to women who wear bright red lipstick is because it's a throwback to how the rear end of a female ape gets red when she's horny and ready to mate.

        hmmm.. that's actually less disturbing than another version I heard about ancient Greek man inventing lipsticks to paint their lips to resemble women's privates.

        Actually, now I think about it, I am really not sure which one is more disturbing.

        I know I like my girl's full lips because they look more kissa

      • It couldn't be simply clearly defined color that stands out. Nah, couldn't be...

        Freaks!
  • About human beings from New Jersey- does our lack of body hair also count (at least for those of use who are more fortuneate than I am- it's not thick but it's everywhere)? Seems like it would make us more streamlined.
    • Right, that's what makes cheetahs so slow -- their body hair.

      I'm willing to bet that at human running speed, aerodynamic drag doesn't make much of a difference. Ever notice how even world class sprinters run wearing baggy clothes, jewelry, and even artificial nails? Obviously that necklace isn't slowing them down much. Why don't they wear teardrop shaped helmets like the cyclists?
    • More Streamlined?
      No (as another poster already noted).
      But easier to cool? Perhaps.
      But other examples of long distance running (cheetahs don't count(short bursts of extreme speed)) savannah inhabitants aren't furless. Why aren't zebras or gazelles naked? If they had a bigger brain to cool, would they just have striped skin (to keep the massed optical confusion effect) but little significant hair?
      • I've read about an anthropologist who demonstrated that a non-couch-potato human could easily run down an antelope and kill her. The trick was that the human jogs after the antelope, which darts away a short distance and then stops. The human keeps jogging after the antelope, which darts away, then stops again. This goes on for several minutes, after which the antelope is so overheated it can barely stand on its legs, much less run away. Voila, dinner is ready.

  • Bullshit. (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Demona ( 7994 ) on Friday November 19, 2004 @01:54PM (#10866818) Homepage
    We ran to catch food or escape an enemy, but for thousands of years when we wanted to go someplace, we walked. We weren't the fastest or strongest - we couldn't outrun quadrupeds. But in addition to outthinking them, we could outwalk them. Conquerors may have ridden on horseback, but the ones who came on foot and brought their tools and families were the organizers of civilization. (somewhat paraphrased from The Magic of Walking, by Aaron Sussman and Ruth Goode)

    • Re:Bullshit. (Score:1, Insightful)

      by Anonymous Coward
      Yeah, but you better not walk too far from the cave or the trees if you can't run. You better not follow that conqueror on his horse into barbarian lands if you can't sprint for your life when you need to. You can crawl across a continent, but you can't sprint across an open field you'll do it just to become somebody's meal or slave.

    • Re:Bullshit on your bullshit. (Score:2, Interesting)

      by Anonymous Coward
      See this article [lehigh.edu]

      I have also heard of an aboriginal Australian tribe that used to / still does? run down kangaroos.

      Think about it. A bunch of marathon runners with spears jog after you all day. You are fit, but not trained for endurance running. Each time you stop for a break, they catch up to you relentlessly, dogging you. Only fear of death gives you the reserves to keep up your flight all day long, sprinting and then resting while they doggedly persue you. You are suprised your heart hasn't burst

    • Re:Bullshit. (Score:3, Interesting)

      by Pentagram ( 40862 )
      But in addition to outthinking them, we could outwalk them.

      I'm not sure abstract intelligence was that useful to our distant ancestors (though of course it has become more useful as civilisation has developed).

      I'd more likely point to our superb visual acuity, and our unparalleled dexterity and communication skills. It was these qualities, coupled to our endurance, that I would argue made our species successful enough to be able to afford to develop large brains.
      • I'd more likely point to our superb visual acuity, and our unparalleled dexterity and communication skills. It was these qualities, coupled to our endurance, that I would argue made our species successful enough to be able to afford to develop large brains.

        In discussions like these I never see anyone mention human throwing ability. No other animal can throw as hard or as accurately as humans can. I would not be surprised if a large part of early human hunting consisted of throwing rocks at small animals.
    • we couldn't outrun quadrupeds

      No, but we can certainly outjog them. The human and the wolf have an extra gait type (jogging), that will, in time, overtake any other walking or running animal. Of course, the fact that we are endurance joggers (when fit) helps too.

    • Re:Bullshit. (Score:4, Interesting)

      by Evil Pete ( 73279 ) on Friday November 19, 2004 @07:16PM (#10870966) Homepage

      The point the authors made was not that humans are good sprinters, which we aren't, but that we are extremely good long distance runners. We can outrun most other creatures over long distances. This was important when we expanded into the savannah and had to beat the hyenas to any newly fallen carcass. I read this in Nature and New Scientist and also heard an interview with the guy (who used the hyena example) ... interestingly the radio interview was on a mainstream station, prime time before I had even seen any mention in the journals. One example the guy gave was that over long distances humans can outrun horses, assuming you've got people who are used to running a lot. Interesting. I remember locally there was this guy, became a national folk hero, he was in his 60s ran everywhere on the farm chasing cattle. Decided to go in an ultra-marathon, about 1,000 km. First effort he beat the world leaders by about 8 hours or more , can't remember the exact lead he had, fellow Aussies might remember Cliff Young. This gives an idea of the 'typical' endurance of a hunter pursuing game.

    • Re:Bullshit. (Score:3, Interesting)

      by swillden ( 191260 ) *

      we could outwalk them.

      Very true.

      An excellent example of this is an observation I read in the diary of a US soldier from the indian wars era. He noted that when the army really needed to cover long distances quickly, they had to leave the cavalry behind, because the horses couldn't keep up. Sure, the horses were faster for short distances like, say a couple hundred miles. But when they had to cover a thousand miles as quickly as possible, the horses couldn't take the pounding. If you rested them en

  • I dunno how you swing buddy, but no, no I haven't.
  • I guess the article means the big buttocks is relative to the rest of the body. If you look at sprinters, they tend to have more of a "bubble butt," but cross-country runners are generally classified as "flat-assed."

    BTW, is this even news? I saw a person running yesterday, and he seemed to take to it pretty naturally, almost like he was born with the ability.
  • ...a couple of days ago. It was a good piece - interesting stuff. Not sure how much of it made it into the article, but it was interesting how they compared humans to other animals explaning how humans are better suited to distance running. Other animals - dogs was an example I believe they used - are better suited for sprinting.

  • Old News (Score:3, Insightful)

    by VernonNemitz ( 581327 ) on Friday November 19, 2004 @02:11PM (#10867045) Journal
    The science fiction writer David Brin wrote about these things years ago. First there was an "ANALOG" fact article (sorry don't recall which issue", and then there was one of his "Uplift War" books. Look up "cursorial hunting" sometime. No Wiki for it yet, apparently (but I bet there will be one shortly!). It means the prey is chased until it keels over from exhaustion first. Humans are the best cursorial hunters around, with possibly highest percentage of total body mass in their legs and leg muscles (including buttocks) of any land critter, ever.

  • Cursorial hunting. (Score:5, Interesting)

    by CryptoEngineer ( 755293 ) on Friday November 19, 2004 @02:17PM (#10867127)
    This is actually an idea which has been around for some time. As the article notes, while humans can be outrun by almost every mammal in the sprint, there are only a very few wild animals with comparable endurance - the horse, the wolf, and the hyena. No other mammals can run a marathon.

    This means that humans can run down prey. Chase an antelope, and it'll run a few hundred yards far faster than you can, then stop to rest. If you just keep dogtrotting after it, it'll do it again, and again. But after a couple miles, it'll be so tired that you can catch up with it and hit it over the head with a big stick.

    This is called 'cursorial hunting'. Only wolves, hyenas, and humans can do this - chase after a quarry till it drops in its tracks.

  • Wouldn't a tail be much more effective than a gluteous maximus for maintaining balance while running? It works pretty well for cheetahs...
    • We do have tails, but ours are vestigial. So is our appendix. Also, remember that bipedal and quadrupedal movement is much different.

      I've always thought having a prehensile tail would be nifty, but it would make sitting down and purchasing clothing a bit more difficult.
  • For me, the ideal when running is when I can get my body onto "auto-pilot" which leaves me with plenty of mental cycles to think. Often I listen to NPR otherwise it can get a bit monotonous (and for all the nike commericals you may have seen, listening to Nirvana for a four hour run gets real, old real quick). Though it's a rare occurance, listening to stories about running while running always makes me smile. In any case, I found it amusing that two of the lead scientists for this "discovery" are both

  • Humans Born to Run (Score:1, Redundant)

    by Suppafly ( 179830 )
    Hasn't Bruce Springsteen been saying that for quite some time?
  • Why thank you. I didn't think anyone would notice.
  • So does this mean JLO should be good at running? How about 90% of the /. readers?
  • ...we weren't born to run but the gene survived because it had the features needed to run???
  • What is the english word that means that someone has a beautiful butt. Looking for the real definition, not some slang. :)

  • Humans are born to... (Score:3, Insightful)

    by dargaud ( 518470 ) <slashdot2@nOSpaM.gdargaud.net> on Friday November 19, 2004 @04:52PM (#10869418) Homepage
    "A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects."
    --Robert A. Heinlein.

  • T & A (Score:3, Funny)

    by PateraSilk ( 668445 ) <tedol.isostandardstudio@com> on Friday November 19, 2004 @06:28PM (#10870557) Homepage
    Another fun Desmond Morris factoid: human females have enlarged breasts to mimic the shape of their well-defined buttocks, so human-style face-to face is as exciting to males as mammal-default doggy-style.

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