A funny story- ground squirrels, when spotting a bird of prey over head actually stand up and make a call telling the other squirrels ‘look, a bird of prey’. Not ‘danger, run!’, and they all up and have a look. Why? Once they see the predator, they can’t be taken by surprise, and they are quick enough to get away if necessary. Sometimes vision is enough.

I’m all for science. I just like to ask the questions that extend beyond where science leaves me.

Don’t forget, we lack a certain balance needed if a biped is to be quick.

My overall point about horses and men, independent of everything else, is not to say that men are superior at horses in endurance or speed. Although you could make that point, actually, as the articles I quoted supports a mite.

The simple overall objective is comparing that of bipedal characteristics with quadruped characteristics, analyzing the detriments and benefits, and realizing that the low energy cost of bipedal motion confers a great species migration advantage.

He completed the 22-mile course in two hours, five minutes, and 19 seconds.

race contestants
Around 300 competitors took part in the race
He said he managed to break away from the pack at about the 10-mile mark. However, despite crossing the finish line alone, he had to wait 15 minutes before finding out if he had won.

These races are not an accurates testament to ancient man because ancient man had different capabilities, probably was a lot tougher in terms of marathons and 100 mile distances

By all means, disbelieve the evidence and the logic.

Average humans died by the thousands if not the millions back in the day. So that’s not an argument for evolutionary principles. Nature cares little for “average”, it cares a lot for members who are elite and have survived.

If you want vision, climb a tree. If you want binocular vision, change the shape of the skull. Being upright confers little advantage while making you pretty obvious to a skulking predator in the grass.

Speed is of utmost importance for predators, combined with stealth. Being upright makes it harder to sneak up on you (a little).

As for endurance, your average horse can go farther in a day than your average human can, and carrying you while doing it- so I’m not buying that.

Brains are difficult, troublesome, unreliable, and consume quite a bit of energy. Instinct is simple, effective, reliable, and requires only a modicum of brainpower (and thus energy). Consider also that it took a long time for us to really take advantage of being bipedal and having opposable thumbs. Apes still make limited use of the opposeable thumb, other than for grasping obects for simple tasks (and flinging poo), but that’s not much advantage over a tiger or panther. Try beating one off your back with a baseball bat…

Science leaves me unsatisfied here. Nature doesn’t seem to prefer us, we beat the odds. Why?

Apes can walk on two legs, but they revert to four for speed. Humans have specialized in being bipeds, simply because, well because. Too much reliance on having a brain, got slow you know.