We Are Nature by Ray Mears

Author:Ray Mears [Mears, Ray]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781473583542
Publisher: Ebury Publishing

Feet

When I am tracking, individual footprints can tell me a great deal about the animal that I am following. Experience has taught me to pay very close regard to the tiniest of details. Following human footprints is usually a case of recognising an ugly sole design and memorising the signs of damage or wear or tear that are specific to one person’s shoe; following animal tracks is a much more subtle art. This is so intense that years later I can remember the tracks of creatures I have followed with great clarity. Ghostly images of these tracks live within my memory. When I recall them, in some strange way my brain can decipher them, enabling me to read the personality of the animal itself.

When I look at the track of a leopard, beyond its identity, the first thing that I read is its stealth ability. It shares a track feature that places it in the company of the other most stealthy cats: lions, mountain lions, snow leopards and tigers. This is the very large rear, or metacarpal, pad on its paws. When I see this, it is a warning that I am following an animal super-evolved to be stealthy and silent. A male tiger may weigh 300 kilograms and be three and a half metres long, but despite this, tigers are renowned for their ability to hunt silently. What I have learned from this is that when it comes to moving quietly, feet matter. I have particularly wide feet, which I like to think helps me to pad about softly, but for humans it really comes down to our choice of footwear. Thinking back to that dry stream bed, if I had been wearing noisy shoes, I might not be writing these words today.

Following four Ju/’hoansi bushmen hunting in 2004, I was surprised when they suddenly adopted a crouch and sloughed off their tyre-tread sandals. Their sharp eyes had spotted a steenbok (Raphicerus campestris) in the shade of a tree ahead, and they were beginning a stalk, bows ready, poison arrows fitted to the strings, making their final stalking approach barefoot for added stealth.

I asked them afterwards if they would have removed their sandals if they had been near a lion. They were adamant that under those circumstances they would need their sandals to be able to run into hiding because the ground is so thorny. This was their solution to the conflicting needs of protective footwear and stealth.

As a species, we evolved to walk bare foot. When we first added foot coverings for protection, they were simple moccasin-style coverings that preserved the toes’ role in walking. Research has shown that when we walk barefoot, we experience as much as 12 per cent less knee impact. When we started to wear hard-soled shoes, our stride lengthened, and we began to walk more on our heels, rolling forward to the toes, which were no longer able to add significant push or spring to our stride.

This way of walking has greatly reduced our ability to move quietly.

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