How did primitive humans, with a top speed of 28 mph, hunt large mammals like deer, bears, wolves, etc, that can reach speeds of near 35 – 40 mph?
In: Biology
1. Tools: Primitive humans could sharpen a stick to make a throwing spear, and build sharp points from things like flint, wounding or killing an animal from a distance. Also: Slings, throwing rocks, building traps, and fire. There is a place in Alberta, Canada called (charmingly) “head smashed in buffalo jump” which is where ancient native americans would chase herds of buffalo off a cliff, where they would fall to their deaths. Then the natives could just walk around to the base and collect meat, hides, and all the other resources at their leisure.
2. Endurance: No other animal on earth can run as far a human. World champion race horses have to rest for days to recover from a single race. Humans can routinely run marathons, 42km, with training. There are several cultures that still exist that use endurance chases to corral prey animals into traps or kill zones.
3. Stealth: It’s hard to imagine for a “civilized” person, but humans can be extremely stealthy in the wild with proper training. Getting close to an animal allows you to kill it before it has a chance to run.
4. Teamwork: Just as a pack of wolves or lions can bring down much larger prey, ancient humans could co-ordinate better than almost any other animal using perhaps our best tool: language. Surrounding an animal, tiring it out, and only when it’s weak going for a kill allowed ancient peoples to bring down huge animals, like mammoths.
I would like to add that hunting predators like bears and wolves is rare, because often they don’t run AWAY but fight back. Also generally the meat of predators isn’t great to eat anyways.
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