University of Utah biologist Dennis Bramble and Harvard University paleoanthropologist Daniel Lieberman have a new view on how conditions millions of years ago molded the way humans move today. The standard explanation is that early hominids left life in the trees to forage on the open savanna, learning to walk upright in the process. Bramble and Lieberman have identified a suite of traits in the human anatomy that add a dramatic twist to the story line.
The traits appear to be specifically adapted for running, and for jogging for long distances. Unlike many mammals, humans are astonishingly successful endurance runners. Over long distances and under the right conditions, humans can actually outrun just about any other animal on the planet -- including dogs, wolves, hyenas, and antelope, the other great endurance runners.
Humans have abundant sweat glands, big knee joints, and muscular glutei maximi. These features have no role in walking. Your body is a beautifully tuned running machines, and your anatomy suggests that running down prey was once a way of life that ensured hominid survival millions of years ago on the African savanna.