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Could Homo sapiens have outcompeted Neanderthals in part due to a superior running ability?

Simon Dales
Oxford, UK

Our species evolved on the savannah to forage and persistence-hunt. However, we don’t need to run any more to secure our food: tap an app on your phone, and pizza arrives.

In contrast, Neanderthals were adapted to carry out forest ambushes to catch animals. Running in forests isn’t very productive; you make a lot of noise and bang your head on branches. Their forest-adapted eyes required a lot of real-time processing of signals to the brain, and they had larger visual cortex regions to cope with this. But a large visual cortex is costly, in terms of biological resources. If there is no forest, then a smaller one works fine.

The greater strength of Neanderthals meant their bones were heavier and denser than ours, and they had a lot of fast-twitch muscle fibres for quick reactions. So, in a sprint, they may well have been quicker than Homo sapiens, but not over multiple kilometres. To run such distances, you need to be lighter and have mostly slow-twitch muscle fibres. Even today, there is a trade-off with strength training. If you bulk up your body too much, it adds to your mass and your scrawnier peers outrun you.

But we invented farming, four-wheel drive vehicles and grocery stores. So, rather than having to chase an antelope around the savannah, our lunch is on a shelf, wrapped in plastic.

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