The Tarahumara of western Chihuahua have long been famous for their
running abilities. A recently released study suggests that they may represent the
epitome of what man was evolved to do: run! We may not think of ourselves as especially
good runners, but in reality we're certainly among the best. As sprinters? No, any
of the big cats or other lurk-and-charge animals can easily outdo us over a short
distance. But as endurance runners, we can drive them into the ground! We're the
only long-distance runners among the living primates. We apparently have more than 2
dozen specializations that are associated primarily with running that are absent in our
living primate relatives and in fossil humans before the appearance of the genus
Homo. The question of why is more difficult to answer with any assurance, given
the limitations of the fossil and archaeological records. Some researchers believe
early man did a lot of scavenging from dead animals. If so, running may have allowed
them to compete effectively against other scavengers for such high quality foods.
Listen to the Audio (mp3 format) as recorded by KTEP, Public Radio for the Southwest.
Contributor: Arthur H. Harris, Laboratory for Environmental Biology, Centennial Museum, University of Texas at El Paso.
Desert Diary is a joint production of the Centennial Museum and KTEP National Public Radio at the University of Texas at El Paso.
Bramble, D. M., and D. E. Lieberman. 2004. Endurance running and the evolution of Homo. Nature 432:345-352.
Zimmer, C. 2005. Faster than a hyaena? Running may make humans special. Science 306:1283.