The Intense 8 Hour Hunt | Attenborough Life of Mammals | BBC Earth

▶ this video This is a video of human hunters (Koi San, an African ethnic group that has been pushed to extinction over the last millennia by the Bantu tribes) chasing down a kudu antelope. Antelope are great runners, but they can't cool themselves as efficiently as humans. It's a beautiful video, and the way the hunter reacts after the kill is very moving.

Interesting video here of one of the San people running down a Kudu which collapses from exhaustion after an 8 hour chase: ▶ this video . Hard to compare this to Sorokin because the hunter is running in veld, not on a road, and has far less access to refueling points. Also, if he fails to track the prey down on day one, he would probably have a go again on day two, maybe even day three. Interesting claims too, that as an upright runner which sweats from glands all over his body, and as a creature capable of carrying water, man may have had persistence advantages over creatures with less ability to cool themselves and which run on four legs - a less energy efficient mode of running according to Attenborough.

There's the loci method for memorization: The method of loci (loci being Latin for "places") is a method of memory enhancement which uses visualizations with the use of spatial memory, familiar information about one's environment, to quickly and efficiently recall information. The method of loci is also known as the memory journey, memory palace, or mind palace technique. Many memory contest champions claim to use this technique to recall faces, digits, and lists of words. These champions' successes have little to do with brain structure or intelligence, but more to do with using spatial memory and the use of the method of loci. link Correlations have been found between memory and the playing of 3D video games, which also utilize our spatial memory. (Though wandering around in a video game is probably a subpar surrogate for doing the same thing in meatspace.) link I also recommend this BBC video of a persistence hunter tracking and running down a Kudu, just as an illustration of how walking/running, language/tracking, spatial memory, and planning/creativity are all tied together as a system that was once necessary for our survival: ▶ this video

Either that -- or our perception of morality is wrong. Maybe it's okay to eat animals as long as we treat them well. After all if they live a long happy and decently full life that's what really counts right? I think this video really gives a good idea of how humanity used to think of hunting and eating animals: ▶ this video We've really lost touch with our empathy for other creatures In the old days people would respect the animal, hug it after killing it... on some level I think animals understand that their own death is a part of life.

Check this remarkable video on persistence hunting in the kalahari - a hunter literally chases a buck until it's completely exhausted. ▶ this video

The San Bushmen in the Kalahari Desert still do this today. This BBC clip on persistence hunting (narrated by David Attenborough!) is worth a watch; their endurance is absolutely incredible: ▶ this video

I first became aware of persistence hunting, by seeing this BBC Earth documentary[0], in which three men track and hunt an Kudu for 8 hours. [0]: ▶ this video

Here's an old (14yo!) BBC Earth documentary about it: > Human beings are a particular type of mammal. In this compelling clip, we see a tribesman runner pursue his prey through the most harsh conditions in a gruelling eight hour chase. ▶ this video 8 hours of something more akin to trail running than marathon, interspersed with game tracking. I wouldn't describe the running parts as "sprinting" though.

▶ this video I think you're misunderstanding how endurance hunting works. There is no land-dweller on Earth that can outpace a fit, prepared human in a hot, dry environment indefinitely. Not even a horse; Google it. We're slow in the sprint, but we're monsters of endurance. (By "fit" I mean "makes a living this way," not "jogs and hits the gym regularly.")

I remember watching this David Attenborough program where he was talking about the hunting techniques of some bushmen in Africa. They did a close-up shot of their feet while out on a hunt and they were wearing regular track shoes: ▶ this video I think they might have been Adidas

If you watch the attenborough documentary linked above it has some clear examples. "The hunters have no tracks at this point and so must imagine the path the Kudu has taken". And later, "The tracks have disappeared again. He imagines being in the mind of the Kudu to deduce the direction it must have fled". There's also the case that tracks alone need a lot of intelligence to process. "Here they can see the Kudu were running by the spacing of the tracks and the bull is isolated and taking a different track". ▶ this video

One of the more reasonable theories about why Neanderthals went extinct was due to Homo Erectus and then Homo Sapiens having much more plentiful and common access to protein. The book Born to Run mentions Endurance Hunting[1] where tribes literally run down game animals such as elk or gazelles until they overheat as proof of this. There are tribes that . Virtually no other mammal on the planet can sweat while on the move. Big dogs and cats have to stop and pant or find shade to sweat and cool down. If they don't, they'll overheat and die. There are evil still tribes[2] that do this today. [1] link [2] ▶ this video