To follow an animal often required tracking it when it ran out of sight. Our sense of smell stinks, so we looked for clues on where it went. That’s smart
Comment on keep going lads!
Cannibal_MoshpitV3@lemmy.world 10 months agoHumans have the highest capacity for endurance and for a very long time we hunted not by being smarter but by literally following animals until they got tired and gave up.
0ops@lemm.ee 10 months ago
Zehzin@lemmy.world 10 months ago
Our sense of smell isn’t bad. We’re great at detecting minute variations in smells as well as detecting rotting things in very little quantity.
0ops@lemm.ee 10 months ago
Yeah, you’re right. I should have said that our sense of smell isn’t specialized for smelling other animals at a distance for tracking like many other animals can.
ssboomman@lemm.ee 10 months ago
That’s plus we are good at throwing things and we sweat. Which means we have range and we can cool off while still being active.
Hyperreality@kbin.social 10 months ago
The thing with a lot of animals is also that they're pretty dumb.
They could potentially out walk us, it's the most energy efficient way of moving, but what they actually do is run off when they see a human, then when they no longer see the human, they take a break. At which point the human catches up. At which point they run off again.
The human simply has to keep walking, while the animal keeps running off, rather than walking, ensuring the human never catches up, but without tiring itself too much.
Bipta@kbin.social 10 months ago
Humans use less energy because we're bipedal. Even if the hunted animals walked, presumably humans could trail them and wait them out.
ssboomman@lemm.ee 10 months ago
I mean it’s not dumb, it’s evolution. Can you imagine a deer “just walking” away from any other predator?
Hyperreality@kbin.social 10 months ago
MightyGalhupo@lemmy.world 10 months ago
This is why horror movie characters always just walk slowly
eestileib@sh.itjust.works 10 months ago
Also, teamwork. Chasing animals in circles and handing off.
nixcamic@lemmy.world 10 months ago
I believe certain breeds of dogs and horses can keep up with us, but only because we bred them to.
HonoraryMancunian@lemmy.world 10 months ago
Iirc, the dogs are huskies
nixcamic@lemmy.world 10 months ago
I believe there were a few breeds who can but Huskies are the well known ones.