Hi, Saturday, November 20, 2004, 5:14:15 PM, Peter wrote:
> David Brin used this hypothisis, butresed by the fact that Humans have > the largest, by percentage of body size and weight, > heat exchanger, of any mamal in a Science Fiction Novel written at least > 7 years ago. I don't think the theory was original to him. I don't think Sci Fi is peer-reviewed, so it doesn't count. I think Richard Leakey had some idea of this when he first started in paleoanthropology in the 1960s. I seem to recall a story that he claimed to be able to outrun a gazelle or something. Somebody took the bet, so he ran a gazelle to exhaustion over several hours, and they all had a barbecue supper. About a year ago I saw a fascinating TV programme about some hunter-gatherers in East Africa who still do this for survival. It included one of the most interesting pieces of anthropological film I've ever seen, in which some of the hunters ran down some kind of large, very strong antelope. Again, it took hours, but at the end of it the animal dropped dead from exhaustion. I assume that the payback in terms of energy to the people was enormous. -- Cheers, Bob
