[rootusrootus]

We know that fundamentally it's our endurance that gives us a physical edge, but I am curious...

> We are not the fastest. Not the strongest. Not the best swimmers or climbers.

Are humans the best in aggregate at all of these? Sure, there is always going to be an animal that is faster in one aspect, but are there other animals that are better than humans at all of them?

[mym1990]

A physically peak and coordinated human possibly, but it probably comes down to what traits you're actually comparing. Man's advantage is our ability to make tools and be creative. Without proper training and mental prep the average human isn't that fast, can't climb well, won't swim more than 500 feet. If you put the average human today in the middle of the Amazon with nothing, I don't really know if that works out great for most people.

[nend]

I mean if the criteria is just those four: strength, top speed, climbing ability, swimming ability - there's probably a lot of animals that are subjectively better than us.

It would depend on how you measure/aggregate it but off the top of my head you could make an argument for: most large cats, chimpanzee, orangutan, bears, some pigs, etc.

[rootusrootus]

It may be that endurance is all we got. But I was thinking that a chimp is very strong and can climb, but is he any good at running and swimming? A cat is a heck of a runner, but isn't really a great climber aside from specific situations. Humans are fairly adaptable.

But probably it just comes down to our endurance/ability to control body temperature, and big brains to devise creative ways of defeating other animals.

[fogihujy]

That's one hell of an advantage on the other hand; not only can we move entire populations in a fairly short time-frame (by simply grabbing our things and walk/run there), we can also adapt to the new surroundings and find ways to thrive. It's easy too see how our ancestors and other hominids colonized the entire planet.