
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, July 18, 1993                   TAG: 9312030378
SECTION: EXTRA                    PAGE: 9   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

SWEAT HELPED THE EARLIEST HUMANS SURVIVE AND THRIVE

Maybe it doesn't rank up there with the opposable thumb, but sweat helped the earliest humans survive and thrive: It gave small, slow humans a vital edge hunting bigger, faster animals.

Sweating is an extremely efficient cooling method, putting the entire body surface to use and giving man endurance.

``Even though we don't run as fast as a horse, we can chase them continuously as they run in spurts and tire until we can eventually catch them,'' says Ann Brittain, University of Miami associate professor of anthropology.

The moral of the hare and tortoise fable: slow and steady wins the race. The moral of evolution: slow, steady and sweaty wins the race.

\ KNIGHT-RIDDER/TRIBUNE

by CNB