A different kind of Olympics. Bipedal vs. quadrupedal running for humans.

[Twilight Hue]

I was thinking of human evolution lately and the sheer number of mammals in the world that have the advantage of speed by running on all fours as opposed to running on two feet , and got curious if we were to return to all fours , would we be able to run faster.

The answers seem to be quite fascinating in their own right.

How Fast Can a Human Run? − Bipedal vs. Quadrupedal Running

It makes me wonder why there isn't quadrupedal running in the Olympics as a sport as it would seem it might be a possibility in the future given a quadrupedal human runner had a recorded time faster than that of the fastest bipedal runner in the modern day.

 

[Shadow Wolf]

Fascinating bit, humans are actually one of the fastest long distance runners on the face of the planet. We may not beat many animals in a sprint, but in a marathon we have about as much competition as we do on the food chain - we can even beat a horse (largely due to the fact we sweat rather than pant to cool ourselves).

 

[Twilight Hue]

Fascinating bit, humans are actually one of the fastest long distance runners on the face of the planet. We may not beat many animals in a sprint, but in a marathon we have about as much competition as we do on the food chain - we can even beat a horse (largely due to the fact we sweat rather than pant to cool ourselves).

I'm not sure if it's actually myth or fact, but I've heard of indigenous people evolving with the capability to run down horses on foot in the Great Plains.

I wonder if it was using a mix of bipedalism and quadrupedalism to accomplish such a feat.

 

[Shadow Wolf]

I'm not sure if it's actually myth or fact, but I've heard of indigenous people evolving with the capability to run down horses on foot in the Great Plains.

It's a fact. A horse can run top speed for about a quarter mile. We do more than that for sport and entertainment. I doubt these people would be able to run down a horse in the sense of a lion overtaking a gazelle, but over a distance any marathon runner would eventually catch up to the horse as the horse would reach exhaustion and overheat much sooner.

I wonder if it was using a mix of bipedalism and quadrupedalism to accomplish such a feat.

It's all in the sweat, which is better for cooling while being active for an extended period of time (and out "in the wild," an extended time being longer than chasing prey/escaping a predator, which typically isn't very long - we on the other hand evolved to constantly be on the move throughout the day and from day to day).