Endurance running and the evolution of Homo. Bramble, D. M & Lieberman, D. E Nature, 432(7015):345-52, 2004.
doi  abstract   bibtex   
Striding bipedalism is a key derived behaviour of hominids that possibly originated soon after the divergence of the chimpanzee and human lineages. Although bipedal gaits include walking and running, running is generally considered to have played no major role in human evolution because humans, like apes, are poor sprinters compared to most quadrupeds. Here we assess how well humans perform at sustained long-distance running, and review the physiological and anatomical bases of endurance running capabilities in humans and other mammals. Judged by several criteria, humans perform remarkably well at endurance running, thanks to a diverse array of features, many of which leave traces in the skeleton. The fossil evidence of these features suggests that endurance running is a derived capability of the genus Homo, originating about 2 million years ago, and may have been instrumental in the evolution of the human body form.
@Article{Bramble2004,
  author   = {Dennis M Bramble and Daniel E Lieberman},
  journal  = {Nature},
  title    = {Endurance running and the evolution of {H}omo.},
  year     = {2004},
  number   = {7015},
  pages    = {345-52},
  volume   = {432},
  abstract = {Striding bipedalism is a key derived behaviour of hominids that possibly
	originated soon after the divergence of the chimpanzee and human
	lineages. Although bipedal gaits include walking and running, running
	is generally considered to have played no major role in human evolution
	because humans, like apes, are poor sprinters compared to most quadrupeds.
	Here we assess how well humans perform at sustained long-distance
	running, and review the physiological and anatomical bases of endurance
	running capabilities in humans and other mammals. Judged by several
	criteria, humans perform remarkably well at endurance running, thanks
	to a diverse array of features, many of which leave traces in the
	skeleton. The fossil evidence of these features suggests that endurance
	running is a derived capability of the genus Homo, originating about
	2 million years ago, and may have been instrumental in the evolution
	of the human body form.},
  doi      = {10.1038/nature03052},
  keywords = {Animals, Attention, Brain, Decision Making, Face, Female, Haplorhini, Housing, Humans, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Male, Models, Neurological, Pattern Recognition, Visual, Photic Stimulation, Prefrontal Cortex, Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S., Visual Perception, Choice Behavior, Cognition, Dopamine, Learning, Schizophrenia, Substance-Related Disorders, Generalization (Psychology), Motor Skills, Non-P.H.S., Nerve Net, Neuronal Plasticity, Perception, Cerebral Cortex, Memory, Neurons, Sound Localization, Synapses, Synaptic Transmission, Neural Pathways, Non-, Acoustic Stimulation, Adult, Age of Onset, Aging, Blindness, Child, Preschool, Infant, Newborn, Pitch Perception, Analysis of Variance, Animal Welfare, Laboratory, Behavior, Animal, Hybridization, Genetic, Maze Learning, Mice, Inbred C57BL, Inbred DBA, Phenotype, Reproducibility of Results, Darkness, Deafness, Finches, Sleep, Sound, Sunlight, Time Factors, Vocalization, Energy Metabolism, Evolution, Fossils, History, Ancient, Hominidae, Biological, Physical Endurance, Running, Skeleton, Walking, 15549097},
}

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