The Evolution of the Homosapien

Dr. Brianna Busch, DC
Jan 27, 2016
2 min read

“…of the more than 4,000 species of mammals on earth today, only one is upright when walking…” Homo sapiens, i.e. us

“…Darwin was right: bipedality was the defining feature that made us human.”
FUN FACT: Homo sapien stands for “The Knowing Man”
The first Homo sapiens were from Africa, and date back to approximately 200,000 years ago.
What makes Homo sapiens so good at locomotion? Years and years of adaptation!
I WON’T BORE YOU WITH THEM, but I read about 14 major adaptations that have occurred over the years to make us good at locomotion (i.e. movement)!
FUN FACT: Who are “…the world’s most successful long distance runners…” answer: Sub-Saharan Africans
Why? It is suggested, “…that since the original Homo sapiens were from eastern Africa, they have had the longest time to allow natural selection to produce a skeletal shape that could accommodate heat dissipation so essential in a tropical environment. Just as the early Homo sapiens living in cold environments for thousands of years eventually developed wide, long torsos with short extremities that favored heat retention…” “…the earliest Homo sapiens that remained in sub-Sahara Africa eventually developed reduced trunk volume and longer extremity lengths that increased the surface area to volume ratio thereby providing for improved heat dissipation.”
“Sawyer et al… claim that after 200,000 years of adapting to extreme heat, the increased lower limb lengths relative to torso volume make sub-Saharan African runners the most efficient endurance runners on earth.”
This is lucky for any of you out there of the sub-saharan African decent, but this doesn’t mean that the rest of us cannot at least strive to become more efficient in our endurance running.