[a_conservative]

This article and your comment are inspiring me to walk more. I do walk some, maybe 10 miles a week or so. I almost always feel better mentally and physically when I walk.

It's such an ancient activity for humans. It's interesting to look at the Bible and see how often it records people walking, or to think about how much hunter-gatherers walked. Humans have been walking for many thousands of years.

Walking also seems integral to the high heat dissipation and endurance that humans have compared to other animals. We can walk for insane distances. A cheetah might be able to out sprint us, but can it cover more distance at a slow and steady pace? I doubt it.

[jermaustin1]

I have a few "transcendental" books about walking. They are great, but it is basically that second paragraph. It is an ancient activity that basically transcends time, humans have been doing it since before humans. It is the "original activity".

[genewitch]

Re: cheetahs, I thought the consensus was that they can sprint long enough to wind a slower animal in a pack, but a human can track basically forever, so it doesn't matter how fast we go - we can sweat to shed heat from aerobic exertion, and so on.

It's posited as the reason humans "took off" the unique physiology of infants and not being able to walk due to our cranial size at birth - because longer gestation to facilitate walking ability means our heads would not fit for natural childbirth - means that cunning and determination are what matters. To anthropomorphize a bit.

[a_conservative]

I think we are saying the same thing- we can shed way more heat than just about any other land mammal. This results in more endurance, because other animals have to take a break to cool down. I imagine that cunning and endurance would go a long way towards a primitive hunter catching their dinner.

Interestingly, dogs and probably other animals have evolved strategies to keep the brain cooler than the rest of the body. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/836587/

Now I'm thinking about other animals that travel long distances. Butterflies and birds sometimes travel ridiculous distances. Do they have to deal with heat dissipation issues? Maybe having smaller brains help here, since cooking the brain seems to be the main issue.

from https://www.bnl.gov/newsroom/news.php?a=217044

> The team discovered that the insects use their wings to sense the direction and intensity of sunlight—the main source of warmth or overheating—and to respond with specialized behaviors to prevent overheating or overcooling of their wings. For example, all species studied exhibited a relatively constant “trigger” temperature of approximately 40oC (104oF), turning within a few seconds to avoid overheating of wings from a small light spot shone upon them.

Nature is mind-blowing!

[twiddling]

There are also good studies of the impact of walking on cognition.