Ethnography and ethnohistory support the efficiency of hunting through endurance running in humans
Bramble, D. M. & Lieberman, D. E. Endurance running and the evolution of Homo. Nature 432, 345–352 (2004).
Article CAS PubMed Google Scholar
Pontzer, H. Economy and endurance in human evolution. Curr. Biol. 27, R613–R621 (2017).
Article CAS PubMed Google Scholar
Lieberman, D. E. Exercised: Why Something We Never Evolved to Do Is Healthy and Rewarding (Pantheon Books, 2020).
Carrier, D. R. The energetic paradox of human running and hominid evolution. Curr. Anthropol. 25, 483–495 (1984).
Article Google Scholar
Bogdanis, G. C., Nevill, M., Lakomy, H. & Boobis, L. Power output and muscle metabolism during and following recovery from 10 and 20s of maximal sprint exercise in humans. Acta Physiol. Scand. 163, 261–272 (1998).
Article CAS PubMed Google Scholar
Calbet, J. A. L. et al. Limitations to oxygen transport and utilization during sprint exercise in humans: evidence for a functional reserve in muscle O2 diffusing capacity. J. Physiol. 593, 4649–4664 (2015).
Article CAS PubMed PubMed Central Google Scholar
Sharp, N. C. C. Timed running speed of a cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus). J. Zool. 241, 493–494 (1997).
Article Google Scholar
O’Neill, M. C., Umberger, B. R., Holowka, N. B., Larson, S. G. & Reiser, P. J. Chimpanzee super strength and human skeletal muscle evolution. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 114, 7343–7348 (2017).
Article PubMed PubMed Central Google Scholar
Queeno, S. R. et al. Human and African ape myosin heavy chain content and the evolution of hominin skeletal muscle. Comp. Biochem. Physiol. A https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cbpa.2023.111415 (2023).
Baker, J. S., McCormick, M. C. & Robergs, R. A. Interaction among skeletal muscle metabolic energy systems during intense exercise. J. Nutr. Metab. 2010, 905612 (2010).
Article PubMed PubMed Central Google Scholar
Mukund, K. & Subramaniam, S. Skeletal muscle: a review of molecular structure and function, in health and disease. Syst. Biol. Med. 12, e1462 (2020).
Google Scholar
Best, A. W. Why does strength training improve endurance performance? Am. J. Hum. Biol. 33, e23526 (2020).
Article PubMed Google Scholar
Schmidt-Nielsen, K. Desert Animals: Physiological Problems of Heat and Water (Clarendon Press, 1964).
Speakman, J. R. & Król, E. Maximal heat dissipation capacity and hyperthermia risk: neglected key factors in the ecology of endotherms. J. Anim. Ecol. 79, 726–746 (2010).
Article PubMed Google Scholar
Kamberov, Y. G. et al. Comparative evidence for the independent evolution of hair and sweat gland traits in primates. J. Hum. Evol. 125, 99–105 (2018).
Article PubMed PubMed Central Google Scholar
Saris, W. H. M. The role of sports foods in physical performance. in International Food Safety Handbook: Science, International Regulation, and Control (eds van der Heijden, K., Younes, M., Fishbein, L. & Miller, S.) Ch. 13 (CRC Press, 1999).
Newman, R. W. Why man is such a sweaty and thirsty naked animal: a speculative review. Hum. Biol. 42, 12–27 (1970).
CAS PubMed Google Scholar
Aldea, D. et al. Repeated mutation of a developmental enhancer contributed to human thermoregulatory evolution. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. 118, e2021722118 (2021).
Article CAS PubMed PubMed Central Google Scholar
Kamberov, Y. G. et al. A genetic basis of variation in eccrine sweat gland and hair follicle density. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 112, 9932–9937 (2015).
Article CAS PubMed PubMed Central Google Scholar
Godfrey, R. W. et al. Evaluating the impact of breed, pregnancy, and hair coat on body temperature and sweating rate of hair sheep ewes in the tropics. J. Anim. Sci. 95, 2936–2942 (2017).
CAS PubMed Google Scholar
Asres, A. & Amha, N. Physiological adaptation of animals to the change of environment: a review. J. Biol. Agric. Healthc. 4, 146–151 (2014).
Google Scholar
Hora, M., Pontzer, H., Struška, M., Entin, P. & Sládek, V. Comparing walking and running in persistence hunting. J. Hum. Evol. 172, 103247 (2022).
Article PubMed Google Scholar
Montagu, A. Natural selection and man’s relative hairlessness. JAMA 187, 356–357 (1964).
Article CAS PubMed Google Scholar
Krantz, G. S. Brain size and hunting ability in earliest man. Curr. Anthropol. 9, 450–451 (1968).
Article Google Scholar
Watanabe, H. Running, creeping and climbing: a new ecological and evolutionary perspective on human locomotion. Mankind 8, 1–13 (1971).
Google Scholar
Bortz, W. M. Physical exercise as an evolutionary force. J. Hum. Evol. 14, 145–155 (1985).
Article Google Scholar
MacArthur, R. H. & Pianka, E. R. On optimal use of a patchy environment. Am. Nat. 100, 603–609 (1966).
Article Google Scholar
Bramble, D. M. & Carrier, D. R. Running and breathing in mammals. Science 219, 251–256 (1983).
Article CAS PubMed Google Scholar
Lieberman, D. E., Bramble, D. M., Raichlen, D. A. & Shea, J. J. in The First Humans - Origin and Early Evolution of the Genus Homo (eds Grine, F. E. et al.) 77–92 (Springer, 2009).
Liebenberg, L. Persistence hunting by modern hunter‐gatherers. Curr. Anthropol. 47, 1017–1026 (2006).
Article Google Scholar
Liebenberg, L. The relevance of persistence hunting to human evolution. J. Hum. Evol. 55, 1156–1159 (2008).
Article PubMed Google Scholar
Hora, M., Pontzer, H., Wall-Scheffler, C. M. & Sládek, V. Dehydration and persistence hunting in Homo erectus. J. Hum. Evol. 138, 102682 (2020).
Article PubMed Google Scholar
Ruxton, G. D. & Wilkinson, D. M. Endurance running and its relevance to scavenging by early hominins. Evolution 67, 861–867 (2013).
Article PubMed Google Scholar
Glaub, M. & Hall, C. A. S. Evolutionary implications of persistence hunting: an examination of energy return on investment for !Kung hunting. Hum. Ecol. 45, 393–401 (2017).
Article Google Scholar
Vidal-Cordasco, M., Rodriguez, J., Prado-Novoa, O., Zorrilla-Revilla, G. & Mateos, A. Locomotor economy and foraging ecology in hominins. J. Anthropol. Res. 77, 338–361 (2021).
Article Google Scholar
Lieberman, D. E., Bramble, D. M., Raichlen, D. A. & Shea, J. J. The evolution of endurance running and the tyranny of ethnography: a reply to Pickering and Bunn (2007). J. Hum. Evol. 53, 439–442 (2007).
Article PubMed Google Scholar
Marino, F. E., Sibson, B. E. & Lieberman, D. E. The evolution of human fatigue resistance. J. Comp. Physiol. B 192, 411–422 (2022).
Article PubMed PubMed Central Google Scholar
Pickering, T. R. & Bunn, H. T. The endurance running hypothesis and hunting and scavenging in savanna-woodlands. J. Hum. Evol. 53, 434–438 (2007).
Article PubMed Google Scholar
Rathkey, J. K. & Wall‐Scheffler, C. M. People choose to run at their optimal speed. Am. J. Phys. Anthropol. 163, 85–93 (2017).
Article PubMed Google Scholar
Steudel-Numbers, K. L. & Wall-Scheffler, C. M. Optimal running speed and the evolution of hominin hunting strategies. J. Hum. Evol. 56, 355–360 (2009).
Article PubMed Google Scholar
Lieberman, D. E. et al. Running in Tarahumara (Rarámuri) culture: persistence hunting, footracing, dancing, work, and the fallacy of the athletic savage. Curr. Anthropol. 61, 356–379 (2020).
Article Google Scholar
Morin, E., Bird, D., Winterhalder, B. & Bliege Bird, R. Deconstructing hunting returns: can we reconstruct and predict payoffs from pursuing prey? J. Archaeol. Method Theory 29, 561–623 (2022).
Article Google Scholar
Schoener, T. W. The compression hypothesis and temporal resource partitioning. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 71, 4169–4172 (1974).
Article CAS PubMed PubMed Central Google Scholar
Ember, C. R. Cross-Cultural Research Methods (AltaMira Press, 2009).
Watts, J. et al. Building quantitative cross-cultural databases from ethnographic records: promise, problems and principles. Cross Cult. Res. 56, 62–94 (2022).
Article Google Scholar
Jackson, J. C. et al. Supernatural explanations across 114 societies are more common for natural than social phenomena. Nat. Hum. Behav. 7, 707–717 (2023).
Article PubMed Google Scholar
Baughman, M. In pursuit of an ancient pursuit. Sports Illustrated 48, 45–46 (1978).
Google Scholar
Parker, K. L. & Robbins, C. T. Thermoregulation in mule deer and elk. Can. J. Zool. 62, 1409–1422 (1984).
Article Google Scholar
Morin, E., Bird, D., Winterhalder, B. & Bliege Bird, R. Why do humans hunt cooperatively? Ethnohistoric data reveal the contexts, advantages and evolutionary importance of communal hunting. Curr. Anthropol. (in the press).
Bunn, H. T. & Pickering, T. R. Bovid mortality profiles in paleoecological context falsify hypotheses of endurance running–hunting and passive scavenging by early Pleistocene hominins. Quat. Res. 74, 395–404 (2010).
Article Google Scholar
Ross, C. T. & Winterhalder, B. Sit-and-wait versus active-search hunting: a behavioral ecological model of optimal search mode. J. Theor. Biol. 387, 76–87 (2015).
Article PubMed Google Scholar
Hitchcock, R. K. et al. The ethnoarchaeology of ambush hunting: a case study of ǂGi pan, Western Ngamiland, Botswana. Afr. Archaeol. Rev. 36, 119–144 (2019).
Article Google Scholar
Cher, P. H., Stewart, I. B. & Worringham, C. J. Minimum cost of transport in human running is not ubiquitous. Med. Sci. Sports Exerc. 47, 307–314 (2015).
Article PubMed Google Scholar
Selinger, J. C. et al. Running in the wild: energetics explain ecological running speeds. Curr. Biol. 32, 2309–2315.e3 (2022).
Article CAS PubMed PubMed Central Google Scholar
Hassmén, P. Perceptual and physiological responses to cycling and running in groups of trained and untrained subjects. Eur. J. Appl. Physiol. Occup. Physiol. 60, 445–451 (1990).
Article PubMed Google Scholar
O’Connell, J. F., Hawkes, K. & Jones, N. B. Hadza scavenging: implications for Plio/Pleistocene hominid subsistence. Curr. Anthropol. 29, 356–363 (1988).
Article Google Scholar
Boesch, C. Cooperative hunting roles among Tai chimpanzees. Hum. Nat. 13, 27–46 (2002).
Article PubMed Google Scholar
Samuni, L., Wegdell, F. & Surbeck, M. Behavioural diversity of bonobo prey preference as a potential cultural trait. eLife 9, e59191 (2020).
Article CAS PubMed PubMed Central Google Scholar
Durnin, J. V. G. A. & Passmore, R. Energy, Work and Leisure (Heinemann Educational Books, 1967).
McArdle, W. D., Katch, F. I. & Katch, V. L. Exercise Physiology: Nutrition, Energy, and Human Performance 7th edn (Wolters Kluwer, 2010).
Mason, M. H. The Arctic Forests (Hodder and Stoughton, 1924).
Howley, J. P. The Beothucks or Red Indians: The Aboriginal Inhabitants of Newfoundland (Cambridge Univ. Press, 1915).
Cabeza de Vaca, A. N. The Journey of Alvar Nuñez Cabeza de Vaca (The Rio Grande Press, 1964).
Kroeber, A. L. Handbook of the Indians of California Bulletin No. 78 (Bureau of American Ethnology, 1925).
Cook, W. A. Through the Wildernesses of Brazil by Horse, Canoe and Float (American Tract Society, 1909).
Kronenberg, A. & Schütze, F. Teda of Tibesti. in Wiener Beiträge zur Kulturgeschichte und Linguistik. HRAF ms: 1, 6, 144, 28 l. [Original: 14, 160, 17 end plates] (Verlag Ferdinand Berger, 1958).
St. John, S. Life in the Forests of the Far East; or Travels in Northern Borneo Vol. 2, 2nd edn, Revised (Smith, Elder and Co., 1863).
Dutton, C. E. Hawaiian Volcanoes (Government Printing Office, 1883).