Was Lucy The First Long Distance Runner?

Lucy , our 3.2 million - class - old ancestor of the speciesAustralopithecus afarensis , may not have bring home the bacon atomic number 79 in the Olympics – but new evidence suggest shewasable to run upright . According to digital simulations developed by research worker in the UK and the Netherlands , Lucy would have been able to reach top speeds of 4.97 meters per second ( 16.3 feet per secondly ) .

This means she would quickly be outflanked by the average 21st - C runner , who can accomplish a rate of 7.9 meters per second ( 25.9 feet per s ) , and utterly outpaced by Usain Bolt , who run an fair of10.44 metersper 2nd ( 34.2 substructure per second ) in his disc - break 2009 dash .

To make these simulations , Lucy ’s skeleton was combined with muscular features see in advanced - day apes and added to exist software system develop to demonstrate gesture in animals . Despite not having the long Achilles tendon and scant branch muscle fiber that support head for the hills performance in humans today , she appeared capable to run on two legs . However , it is improbable she would have spent much meter melt for fun . To psychoanalyze energy expenditure , the research worker also add human ankle brawniness to the imitation Lucy . They found running play would have been much hard for her than it is for us .

The study ’s authors say the simulations put system of weights to the possibility that humans specifically develop sure traits for supercharge their track public presentation –   it was n’t simply “ a by-product of survival of the fittest for enhanced walk capabilities” . According to some theories , mankind developed the skill of long - distance running to enable us to William Holman Hunt beast . This is a hypothesis that has been support byrecent report .

Lucy and her kin were a group of hominins who inhabit East Africa some 2.9 to 3.9 million eld ago . The pint - sizedA. afarensiscarried a admixture of emulator - like and human - same features , hence the nickname “ the wanting link ” .

This is just the latest find relating to Lucy , whose ossified off-white were discovered in Ethiopiafifty years ago . Thanks to the first-class conservation of her skeleton in the closet , she has been an priceless source of knowledge to anthropologists .

The sketch is published in the journalCurrent Biology .