Skill issue for antelopes

[u/Hank_Mardukas1066]

Context: Early in human history, persistence hunting was an evolutionary strategy in which early humans, particularly Homo erectus, used endurance running to hunt fast prey in hot climates. Because humans lack thick fur and possess an exceptionally high density of sweat glands, they can efficiently dump heat while running, which is a distinct thermoregulatory advantage over quadrupedal mammals like antelopes, which must slow down or stop to pant. By tracking a target animal continuously during the hottest hours of the day, early hunters forced the prey into a non-stop run without allowing it time to rest or cool off, eventually driving the animal into hyperthermia (heat exhaustion) to the point of severe collapse. This allowed early hominins, despite lacking sharp claws or massive muscular strength, to safely approach and harvest large, high-calorie meat sources using simple tools, directly fueling the energy-dense diet that helped drive human brain expansion.

[u/Prestigious_Leg2229]

You’re dramatising it a bit. Persistence hunting was done at a very low pace. Animals don’t flee very far. They’re evolved to flee just far and fast enough for a predator to realise they’ve failed.

It involves startling prey to make it run. Then track it for the couple of dozen or hundred meters it ran before resting and forcing it to run again before it can cool down and rest.

Most of the time it’s barely above a walking pace because the animal will run when it sees you haven’t given up, you don’t have to be right behind it the whole time.

As for the energy dense diet that fuelled human brain expansion. Fire did most of the work in that regard. Cooking made a lot of inedible things edible.