Running is an evolutionary trait.

 

Running is an evolutionary trait.Running is an evolutionary trait.

Running is a gift that has been with us for thousands of years, and without the ability to run, we most likely wouldn’t be here today.

Running is a natural trait of humans or any animal that has a predator. Running would have been the most common form of escape, whatever animal you were being chased by.

As well as running from things, running is essential for catching food.

The ability to run has been developed as an evolutionary trait over the years. Let’s face it those who could escape and catch food were more likely to survive.

Jogging is a popular form of exercise that is not only an enjoyable pastime, but some scientists think endurance running contributed to the evolution of modern humans.

Most anthropologists studying early humans have tended to focus their attention on the time when prehistoric man began to walk upright. They think this ability, between four and six million years ago, separated prehistoric humans from other species.

Biological anthropologist Daniel Lieberman of Harvard University in Massachusetts also subscribed to the notion that prehistoric humans were probably not good short-distance runners because modern humans are not.

"After all we are very slow and we are very awkward and we fall down easily, and it costs us a lot of energy to run," he said.

Professor Lieberman and a colleague then wondered about endurance running. After studying the fossil record, they concluded that ancient humans were probably excellent endurance runners.

Unlike walking, Professor Lieberman says running requires physical characteristics, such as spring-like tendons. There is no evidence that such characteristics evolved from prehistoric primates and their two-legged descendants.

"If you look at the legs of a chimpanzee, there are no springs in the leg. They are all muscles," he said. "The tendons are just a centimeter or so long. But humans have these huge Achilles tendons and various other tendons in our legs. They have no role whatsoever in walking. But they are crucial when you run."