"Other animals can track, too."
Do they track by scent or by looking at footprints?
"Do they track by scent or by looking at footprints?"
Good point. Most animals track by using sense that are heighten well beyond human capabilities.
In this video the human tracked mostly by looking at footprints. And when he couldn't find the footprints he used his imagination.
The video says in the beginning that humans are the only animals that track by looking at footprints.
"Over long distances only a handful of animals can outpace us, even though most of them can do us in a sprint."
Which are in the handful that can outpace us? I'm assuming wolves are up there?
Off the top of my head i can't remember, although i remember something about a comparison with dogs showing that they couldn't keep pace.
Thinking logically about it, apart from horses and wild dogs/wolves, there don't appear to be many species that are even competitive with us. How many cows, bears, rabbits, lions, etc, can you imagine pounding out a marathon in an impressive time? :)
ta ta ta
Thanks for posting,,,,this is a really awesome video!
I read something comparing humans to all other animals. It said the only race a human could always win would be a 100-mile race.
Seems logical about human vs. animal endurance. I always wondered why I could run my great dane/chesapeake mix into the ground after 3 miles, sometimes I had to carry him the last bit. He would be knocked out for the rest of the day while I went to lacrosse practice.
"I read something comparing humans to all other animals. It said the only race a human could always win would be a 100-mile race."
Hmmm ... the huskies in the Iditarod run 150 miles a day, through snow, while pulling a sled. I bet in cold weather (so the dog didn't overheat) a husky could beat the 100 mile marathon record ... which is around 14 hours.
That camera man must have been in incredible shape. 8 hours of running with a camera on your shoulders is insane!
There are only 4 distance-running species of animal. Humans, Wolves (Dogs), Horses, and Hyenas. Of course, evolutionarily speaking, we kinda took the stupid way. As far as evolutionary adaptations go, flying is where its at. Birds have to make some pretty harsh sacrifices, unfortunately, with the biggest ones being body size and weight. Pretty hard to fly with a brain the size of a human's and the body to support it.
"As far as evolutionary adaptations go, flying is where its at."
which is why humans hunt birds and keep them as pets, and not the other way around.
LOL, I noticed that too.
"I read something comparing humans to all other animals. It said the only race a human could always win would be a 100-mile race."
Hmmm ... the huskies in the Iditarod run 150 miles a day, through snow, while pulling a sled. I bet in cold weather (so the dog didn't overheat) a husky could beat the 100 mile marathon record ... which is around 14 hours.
yeah no crap. i have 3 of these (stupid) dogs and I would pit the endurance of a trained young husky sled dog against any human runner i dont care who it is. yeah i know they run in teams but they still are all running. and they do it in the most extreme conditions. let's see a human run 100 miles in the arctic.
All I wanna know is where these hunters using their "ancient" hunting methods got sneakers from...
yeah no kidding. im all for the hardcore hunt and respecting the animal and "bonding" with it and acknowledging its role and your purpose but hell if youre gonna use modern sneakers hell just get a crossbow or a .270
"All I wanna know is where these hunters using their "ancient" hunting methods got sneakers from"
You're not going to get a big sponsorship deal with a running shoe company by running around barefoot all the time, especially when the cameras are rolling. I'm guessing he could kick off the shoes and do just as well.:)
I don't think the trainers made a hell of a lot of difference. I'm assuming he used them for the same reason he carried his water in a plastic bottle. It's a lot easier to get them than it is to try and convince his wife to make them from scratch out of leather or some such.
yeah i didnt even notice the plastic water bottle either
"That's a pretty inefficient way to hunt. It would make more sense to have the runner chase the animals towards pit traps or other hunters."
These aren't woodland animals that follow forest paths. Good luck trying to get these animals to fall into a pit. That may work with other animals on some other part of the world, but more than likely, not there. Even if you surrounded them and tried to corral them, they'd smell the guy that was up wind of them. And then IF they ran towards the other hunters, the animals would have too quick of reflexes to get hit with a spear that maybe has a striking range of 10-15 yards.
Do you really think that these guys' ancestors didn't try many different types of strategy? Over thousands of years, it wouldn't be difficult to imagine these guys tried the old corral trick somewhere down the line. With Africa's fast plains animals, it would be almost out of the question to try to approach them anywhere but downwind.
IMO, that's the culmination of thousands of years of trial and error in hunting. Those guys knew what worked and what didn't. Yeah, guns and modern technology would make a big difference, but these guys could hold their own with what was available to them.
I watched a documentary on the Kalahari bushmen. Some impoverished tribes receive government checks to help them with basic needs. This one tribe got a check delivered to them, but they didn't have a vehicle. So they sent one guy walking to the nearest town which was over 20 miles away.
The camera showed him walking down the road, but they didn't follow him. Later in the day, he returned. He was carrying a plastic grocery bag and sporting a new pair of Nikes. Can't blame him. I wouldn't want to walk a 40 mile roundtrip without a pair of sneakers. He had a loaf of bread and a few other grocery items. He also had a bottle of Coke. Maybe a liter or so.
The villagers sat around in a circle and took turns taking drinks from the Coke bottle.