Long-distance running ability ‘evolved from early hunting’

Scientists say they have uncovered yet more evidence that suggests hunting may have helped humans become long-distance runners millions of years ago.

New research shows endurance pursuits for prey was not as rare in hunter-gatherer societies as previously thought.

Anthropologists said they found literature dating back to the early 1500s that suggest slow-paced, long-distance running was seen as an efficient way to capture animals such as wildebeest, deer, antelope and bison for food.

The team said its findings, published in the journal Nature Human Behaviour, challenge the view that lengthy hunting pursuits would have been physically costly because of the toll it takes on the body.

Eugene Morin, a professor in the department of anthropology at Trent University in Canada, said this belief stems from a “cultural bias” amongst Westerners who tend to see running “as arduous, costly, and challenging”.

He told the PA news agency: “Westerners, being more sedentary, are generally not as fit as the natives (indigenous people who descended from the earliest inhabitants of a country), and for this reason, probably consider endurance running as more challenging than people who run frequently.”

The findings also suggest snowy or harsh winter conditions would not put off human ancestors from endurance pursuits and may have been as efficient as other methods of catching prey such as chance encounter, snaring or ambushing, the researchers said.

Documents show some running pursuits were greater than 100km.