Why Neanderthals Could Outsprint Humans

[Judi Lynn]

By Anna Goldfield
October 19, 2019

If you’re like me, you view long-distance running as a somewhat unrealistic aspiration and see those people who do it well as remarkable creatures.

The truth, though, is that Homo sapiens are well-designed for loping along for long distances across open landscapes—especially when compared to Neanderthals. They had legs and feet that, recent research suggests, were better suited to sprinting, squatting, and hilly hiking than to running.

Unlike the open African plains in which H. sapiens lived and hunted, the early landscapes in Europe were more densely forested. Hunting a forest-dwelling animal requires a very different hunting strategy than running down an animal on a savanna. Neanderthals were much more likely to have been ambush hunters, relying on sudden, explosive speed and power to overcome their prey.

One piece of bodily evidence for this is that Neanderthals had shorter legs than we do, particularly in the tibia and fibula, the two leg bones below the knee. Along with a more compact body and shorter stature than modern H. sapiens, this is generally thought to be an adaptation to the colder environments of Europe between 200,000 and 40,000 years ago; more compact bodies mean less surface area through which body heat can escape. But their shorter legs probably also made Neanderthals better suited to sprints.

More:
https://www.realclearscience.com/articles/2019/10/19/why_neanderthals_could_outsprint_humans_111138.html

[greyl]

1. Should be "Why Neanderthal Humans Could Outsprint Modern Humans",

since Neanderthals were human.

[stopdiggin]

2. correct

subspecies is probably the best description. Clear (although in this case arguably slight) differences in morphology (most often arising out of isolated populations) that are also able to produce offspring when paired. As the two groups obviously did with a percentage of remnant Neandertal DNA found in the majority of human (sapiens, sapiens) populations today.

[ECSkeptic]

3. Neanderthals are natural sprinters...

...very dangerous over short distances.


(sorry, had to do it)