Eli5: how are humans, who are two legged, able to out endure creatures that are four legged?
In: 1455
Exactly by having less legs. More legs is good for speed but bad for endurance because double the number of legs, double the energy spent.
Exactly by having less legs. More legs is good for speed but bad for endurance because double the number of legs, double the energy spent.
Big lungs and the ability to sweat on to bear skin. The most important limiting factor for endurance with most animals is the ability to remove heat from your body. Humans are very good at that because we’re naked AF and sweat. Most mammals cannot sweat as it doesn’t work with fur and would lead to death in winter.
That in addition to simple tools like carrying water and footwear means our endurance (when trained properly) is absolutely staggering and is only realistically limited by our need for sleep, food and water. We can carry food and water with us so those limiting factors do not matter, but we cannot do anything about sleep except sleep.
This means humans can realistically jog for hours and hours on end where as most animals can only maintain that kind of speed for minutes before they begin to overheat and need to stop and rest.
Big lungs and the ability to sweat on to bear skin. The most important limiting factor for endurance with most animals is the ability to remove heat from your body. Humans are very good at that because we’re naked AF and sweat. Most mammals cannot sweat as it doesn’t work with fur and would lead to death in winter.
That in addition to simple tools like carrying water and footwear means our endurance (when trained properly) is absolutely staggering and is only realistically limited by our need for sleep, food and water. We can carry food and water with us so those limiting factors do not matter, but we cannot do anything about sleep except sleep.
This means humans can realistically jog for hours and hours on end where as most animals can only maintain that kind of speed for minutes before they begin to overheat and need to stop and rest.
Most animals are dragsters, they are built to accelerate to a high speed fast and hold that speed a short distance.
Man isn’t fast, everything beats us at a short sprint, but in good shape, with cool conditions and/or a water bottle, humans can go near full speed for days. It’s what we’re built for.
Related, for slightly different performance reasons. They used to teach kids with Japanese racing bikes to be polite when they passed the Harley’s, it may take a bit but the Harley will catch up.
Most animals are dragsters, they are built to accelerate to a high speed fast and hold that speed a short distance.
Man isn’t fast, everything beats us at a short sprint, but in good shape, with cool conditions and/or a water bottle, humans can go near full speed for days. It’s what we’re built for.
Related, for slightly different performance reasons. They used to teach kids with Japanese racing bikes to be polite when they passed the Harley’s, it may take a bit but the Harley will catch up.
A big strong muscle car can drive fast but it will use up all its gas super quickly! Think about how race cars have to come in for a pit stop to get more gas.
A regular car can’t go as fast but it only needs gas every couple hundred miles or so
A big strong muscle car can drive fast but it will use up all its gas super quickly! Think about how race cars have to come in for a pit stop to get more gas.
A regular car can’t go as fast but it only needs gas every couple hundred miles or so
because its a tradeoff between speed and endurance
if you go and sprint, it wont be long before you start feeling pain from sprinting BUT you covered distance really fast
Slower running/jogging will allow you to run for MUH longer, go longer distances, but slower.
because its a tradeoff between speed and endurance
if you go and sprint, it wont be long before you start feeling pain from sprinting BUT you covered distance really fast
Slower running/jogging will allow you to run for MUH longer, go longer distances, but slower.
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