first of all...the human body plan doesn't really allow us to compete physically with the rest of the predators that compete and maybe sometimes hunted us.
one must imagine, how in the world would the first "mutant" baby to evolve the biped posture to be ale to run away fast enough from the predators to survive? i mean.. he/she would be dead meat when the rest of his ape clan scatter away on all fours and shoots up a tree at the first sign of danger.. the slow 2 legged biped mutant kid would be left behind in the dust..neither fast enough to out run the hyenas, leopards, lions, wild dogs etc, nor is it well equipped enough to scamper up the tree fast like it's four legged ape ancestor pals..
this body plan just isnt suitable for life in the wild teeming with man-eaters..
unless the world at the time was miraculously void of large predators at the time when the first man stepped upright onto the plains of africa... i do not find any logical reason that any first hominids would be able to stay alive... i don't think that..our first hominid ancestors were not smart enough to use weapons to fight off large predators.. especially a pride of lions.
people, it's evolution and it's role as a biological species on earth, just does not make any sense.

Does anything when you look at it?

Being biped means we are slow runners - we run as fast as rabbits - However we have increased stamina. The AAH (Aquatic ape hypothesis), inwhich it dives into the fact that, unlike our relatives in the tree's and the wild jungles. We lived near water - meaning we waded through water, we can hold our breath for up to 8minutes - unlike other primates.

Google it or whatever and get a better understanding of it.

All I know is that the human body is incredibly resilient and yet it can drop dead by hitting its head just once. It can adapt to extreme temperatures and yet by just one degree change in body temperature it can fall very ill. It is also waterproof, granted you can look like an old prune if you stay in a swimming pool for 12 hours, but what do we expect! It heals itself and has cute little antibodies that surround invading, alien particles and kills them off!

It can do incredible things and is so versatile that it is hard not to to be in awe of it lol.

I think the human body is a brilliant construction, long may it continue!

LOL, wow that's seriously an over-statement

The reason that human's co-existed with the wilderness and all the animilia that confounded it, is the ideal reason: Our Sophisticated Brain

No... It really isn't.

Well, I don't think we can hold our breath for 8 minutes nowadays, didn't David Blaine try something like that in some stunt, not sure he succeeded though.

The most I've ever held my breath was for about 1 minute 40 seconds. It damn well nearly made me pass out

I'm sure deep sea divers - and that assortment - can. But we have no real need to train our lungs to hold our breath for a long time anymore, since we became the top of the foodchain.

*shudder* david blaine... I forgot all about him till just now.

David Blaine *chuckles*

Actually Pearl Divers are pretty adept at holding their breath, thinking about it.

who said the reason we co-existed with the wild animals because we have the brains?? look here...before we got these brains, our ancestors have to have come from some not so brainy biped... but still upright ape.. we did not jump out of nowhere with this big brain of ours sunddenly, to face the wild. i don't care how many sunday schools you've been to.. that creation story you been taught is not true.. it's just a bedtime story just like any other from any other culture. with that being said.. our first hominid upright ancestors with the brains of a chimp could not have out ran any large predators.. sure a clan of them might fend off a single leopard or two.. but a pride of lions? clan of hyenas? no way..
anyhow going further back.. the first one to be born upright must have somehow survived long enough to produce offsprings to sustain a population of upright descendents to evolve into humans..
that in itself seems like a miracle...but don't quote me on that.. i do not being in a hebrew god such as you bible thompers...or any god.
finally, no we cannot run as fast as a rabbit. unless you've been juiced up like those onlympic sprinters..and even so they do not run 30 mph to catch a rabbit in a footrace.

I remember watching the world records and the record for holding ones breath was 5 min. Im pretty sure thats right and i highly doubt 8 min

i believed that homo-s. learned to walked on two because it uses less energy to walk. rather than walking on four with you carrying the center part of your body horizontally which is much heavier..

There is no evidence that we were a primary food source for any of the predators existent alongside any of the early homo species. If anything early homo was an opportunistic predator but mainly a scavenger who did not compete with these predators for food resources, even if we were sharing the same habitat.

Using the behaviour of modern ape/major predator relationships as an example we do not see a common predator/prey pattern. Yes, predators such as leopards etc will take small or sick apes on an opportunistic basis, but they are more likely to target monkeys rather than any of the ape species or even more likely to target the usual prey species such as antelope and the like. Why should the situation have been any different 2 or 3 million years ago?

Also, contrary to popular belief, the wilds do not 'teem with man-eaters' or any large predator at all. If the population of predators got so large they would exhaust their food source and many of them would starve. Predators large enough to take an ape are uncommon in any environment and apes are generally smart enough to move away if they find themselves in close proximity to any.

I was going to make a super long post explaining all of this but it is really a lot of time and work. Your questions are sound questions and most have been answered, really I would suggest biology classes at a local college if you care to understand more in depth, baring that get a library card.

Ill address some of your main points here.



The first hominids were opportunistic predators, we did not need to compete with most predators like big cats, we hunted very different game.



I think you need to read up on evolution. As for the second part of your quote, by your reasoning no animals would ever exist because they would not be able to get away from predators. Thompson's gazelle are not faster than cheetahs, giraffes are not faster than lions. These animals get along just fine without being faster than their main predators. Also predators do not have to be faster than their prey to hunt them. Most plains dwellers are faster than wild dogs, it does not stop the dogs from being successful predators.

Really an ecology class on predator/prey relationships and mechanisms is in order.




Again I think you need some more education on the matter. Baboons are mostly terrestrial and get along fine in Africa. Also look up Gelada Baboons (not really baboons though) who are almost completely non-arboreal and live fine in the presence of leopards and other big predators.



Your right they didn't. Walking upright did two very important things.

First Human bipedalism is not very energy efficient when compared to most quadrupeds but it is very efficient compared to other apes locomotion. Second, watch a chimp move through grass some time. For them to take in their surroundings, they stop moving (Stand still) to stand on their hind legs. Being a biped means you continue moving while observing your surroundings. Coupled with decent vision means you see lions long before they can stop you from getting to safety. (Up a tree or gathered in a large number).



It makes lots of sense, don't take my word for it though, go out and get yourself a formal education on it.




Again see Gelada's, par ape intelligence, they get along just fine living on the ground.




Your right our big brain posed many problems. How we got our big brain is a combination of tool use, mutation and diet. (The main stays many other minor things needed). Again see above about out running predators.

Besides, Bipedal hominids may have happened before pride lions, The oldest specimen from Panthera leo is 3.5 mya, while there is a definite example of a 4 mya old bipedal hominid and maybe even some as old as 6 mya. All big cats are solitary minus lions, so prior big cats like the saber-tooth hunting an angry group would probably be less successful than say a modern day pride of lions.



I doubt one ape was suddenly born upright, some aspects fo evolution are quick (punctuated equilbrium) some are slower. Upright walking was probably a slower evolution.



Again, speed is but one of many ways to avoid predation. Get a good book on prey defense mechanisms.

are you saying somehow, a random mutation for upright walking strikes more than one individual of a certain species of pre-hominid ape to allow this genetic trait to be passed down slowly thruout millenias to slowly evolve upright walking?
second of all...thompsons gazelle, althought do not run faster than cheetahs, can certainly out maneuver the fastest cheetah given enough headstart, and they can certainly out-last the cheetah on endurance.. of course, given optimum condition, the gazelle will not outrun the cheetah in a straight race. but for a cheetah to be successful in a hunt it has to stalk and creep withing a particular striking distance for it to produce fruitful result.
secondly natural selection will now allow a first generation bipedal offspring of a transitional ape-hominid to survive. it just cannot escape predation. period.
gelada babboons live in the highland hills area, numbering in the hundreds maybe thousands. sure there are leopards there, but there aren't any large pack predators like hyenas, wild dogs or a pride of lions... regardless.. geladas ran on all 4's way more efficient than chimps and early hominids. there are no evidences of early hominids living in social groups the size of the geladas... secondly even without modern day lions, many predators existed at the time were just as fearsome, some my even be pack hunters.. hyenadons, etc, heck some even speculate smilodons are pack hunters too. whatever the case.. you have to consider the fact that humans just arent built to last in the wild alone. and no way in hell will there be an instance that more than one upright walking baby will pop out of a species of 4 legged ape to live long enough to breed not to mention evolve further down thru time.

upright walking sure does have its advantages.. being able to see further from a higher vantage point.. but it's not foolproof.. it means nothing in the tall grass where a lion can conceal itself out of sight...even today, africans in the botzwana village rutinely gets hunted and eaten by lions..some from the inside of their homes.
if modern humans, with our modern more intelligent brains, more sophisticated technology, society and soforth still gets hunted by these predators, imagining if you were the first of your kind just stepped onto the evolutiionary stage, not yet fully bipedal, not fully quradrupeds. if able to live into adult age, yes i can see it able to breed and continue it's unique trait... but such youngters will get picked on by it's own kind if it's not the offsprings of the dominant female.. so, besides the predators it has to deal with, it has to deal with social pressures and maybe rejection from their society because it is so different from the norm and that it moves awkwardly... one look from a predators eyes and it stands out like a sore thumb. it will be considered the weakest of the group and will be targeted...

also..actually giraffes do run just as fast as a lion maybe faster.. and they do carry a deadly kick.. and they outlast any lions in a chase..
babboobs lives on the plains but they have the help of the gazelles and they are often not far from trees and terrains difficult for pack hunting predators to access..
a troop of babboons can certain chase off a single or a couple of leopards, but see what happens when they run into a pride of lions or a clan of hyenas or a pack of wild dogs...they will quickly change their tunes.. now imagine similar evolutionary process happening to the babboons where a young babboon was born to first exitbit upright walking physiology..can you see the disadvantage that first biped offspring will face and have to overcome?

Obviously, you have not taken the time to look into other defense mechanisms, if your are convinced of your own ignorance why post for a debate?

A few more things:

1) Walking upright developes a very strong leg, so upright humans could also kick very hard.

2) Another advantage is that it frees our hands, so we could also punch.

3) They still could climb trees, it's just that we have to push with our feet and legs more than to pull with our hands and arms since our legs were stronger.