7 ms·
Compare the fox's journey of 2,176 miles in 76 days to the average Pacific Crest Trail through hiker's 2,660 miles in 152 days. That's 29 vs 18 miles per day. T
by hirundo 7y ago
Compare the fox's journey of 2,176 miles in 76 days to the average Pacific Crest Trail through hiker's 2,660 miles in 152 days. That's 29 vs 18 miles per day. The PCT record is about 50 miles per day. So an athletic human could have kept up with this canine.
Of course the humans don't have to scavenge their meals along the way and the fox doesn't have to carry supplies.
Typically dog companions don't do well on such long hikes.
So while we can't keep up with migrating fish or birds at least we can potentially keep pace with a fox 1/8th of our size. Yay team. We're bred with the talent to keep on truckin.
- Ididntdothis 7y agoIt's pretty cold up there and the fox didn't have a sleeping bag or tent :-)
- hirundo 7y agoJust a thick fur coat.
- aksss 7y agoWhich a primate can fashion out of multiple foxes.
- treebeard901 7y agoHave to catch them first...
- gambiting 7y agoWell but that's the thing - we can out walk a vast majority of animals on this planet. Early human hunters were successful partially because they could chase their prey for days if needed until it collapsed from exhaustion. We might have not have the same speed as some of the animals, but human endurance is unparalleled in the animal world.
- latch 7y agoUnparalleled in the _land_ animal world perhaps. But there are stories of birds that fly for months at a time. Penguins (in water), ostrich's and camels can also achieve pretty unparalleled things wrt endurance. And who knows about things in the sea...
- nradov 7y agoHuman endurance is unparalleled in the animal world when the temperature is high. At low temperatures some canids and horses can do as well or better, but they can't shed heat efficiently.
- dragonwriter 7y agoHumans have the pretty nearly the best long-distance speed of any land animal, lots of things can out sprint us (which is bad for us if they are preying on us), but very few can evade sustained stalking by humans (which is bad for them if we're preying on them.)
- mrec 7y agoTrue, but persistence hunting evolved in a hot climate. (Which is why we have other adaptations such as mostly-hairly skin to facilitate sweating.) Persistence hunting in the Arctic without the coat you're trying to catch would be a rather different matter.
- scruple 7y agoFar easier to set a trapline and walk it every day.
- BRAlNlAC 7y agoWalking a trail isn’t the same as walking cross country. Humans aren’t very good at off trail navigation.
- jacobush 7y agoMost aren't. Some are.
- jacquesm 7y agoIt's scary how inept people are in general at navigation. Telling the time and obtaining a rough compass heading by the position of the sun should be something anybody can do but surprisingly few people can do this.
- crispinb 7y agoHuman navigation is cultural. Urban culture (for better or worse) tends to cut people off from physical reality. Spend a few days with a Cape York indigenous person and find out how amazingly good people can get at this. John Huth's The Lost Art of Finding Our Way is a good read for anyone interested in improving their navigation skills.
- Buttons840 7y agoFor those who don't know: The natives of the Cape York area speak a language with no words for front, back, left, or right, they only have words for compass directions. Thus, speaking their language forces you to be aware of compass directions at all times. See: https://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/29/magazine/29language-t.html https://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/29/magazine/29language-t.htm...
- crispinb 7y agoThanks for that link. Fascinating. I had no idea of that linguistic aspect. My comments were just based on having spent some time in Cape York (in the bush & on the water) a few years ago.
- 11thEarlOfMar 7y agoHow much sleep does the fox need vs. a human?
- fnord77 7y ago> kept up with this canine. Vulpine, actually. (Foxes are canids, but not canines.)
- shawabawa3 7y agoI think canine is a synonym for canid/canidae
- k6k7f7uky8ki 7y agoThat's less than 2 miles an hour.
- RichardHeart 7y agoTry it at 1 year old human :)
- skgoa 7y agoMarching 30 miles per day with their entire gear on their body was expected of soldiers during the napoleonic wars and the Prussian (later German) army kept that requirement until WW1.