In addition to our ability to throw shit, humans also have some of the best endurance that mammals have to offer. An example of this is the Human V Horse race in Wales. The race is a 22-mile / 35-kilometer marathon that takes place in mountainous terrain. Normally, a horse would beat a human in a race without a problem. But in a marathon, humans actually stand a chance with an occasional victor in this specific annual race. All due to our exceptional endurance.
Put the projectiles and endurance together, and we make for a terrifying hunter. Imagine you're some other animal out in the wild. Maybe you're really fast or really strong. But if a determined human really wants to try and kill you, there's no out-running it. It'll catch up eventually. And if you choose to fight the human, they'll get the first blow.
Let’s also add on that humans used a tactic called “persistence hunting”, in which you follow after some animal at a brisk pace startling it every time it tries to rest. With nothing more than sweat glands, pointy sticks and ridiculous endurance, we marathon jogged some species to extinction!
Our ancestors noticed these animals that would follow us around in packs. They could generally keep up with us, form bonds easily, were pretty good at killing, and mostly ate the parts of the animals we didn't.
We just chose the ones who were coolest with us and just bred the ones who loved us the most.
Also, we can and do eat some mild poisons because they’re tasty somehow.
I have a love of chocolate, but smaller animals can’t eat as much without severe metabolic issues that might kill them.
And capsaicin is straight-up an anti-mammal deterrent. Birds might be able to eat it with no reaction at all. Meanwhile humans just deal with their temperature receptors being freaking hacked for seemingly no other reason than fun.
and don’t forget that humans have excellent and precise communication skills, too. At least in theory. One human might not be able to kill the wild animal, but a group can.
When it's hot out, the human wins. When it's cold/cool, humans can't stand a chance against the horses. Similarly, wolves and dogs can easily outrun humans in the cold, but lose to humans when it's hot.
That's because the biggest comparative advantage that humans have is actually thermal management while running, not the act of running itself.
Humans sweat. This means we can actually perform intense exercise even in heat, without overheating as easily as most other animals. Most quadruped mammals pant to cool, and have their breaths tied to their steps while running, so they can't cool themselves efficiently while on the move. Persistence hunting doesn't tire out prey, but actually overheats the prey to where they can't run any further.
Throw in the fact that we can throw, handle weapons while running, climb shit, talk, invent things, etc., and we really have been a deadly species for long before industrialization.
Do they actually allow the horses to run to exhaustion in the heat?
Googling
No, there are mandatory vet checks that can last large amounts of time that are deducted from all horses time. So the cold/heat makes a negligible difference, the horses get long rest periods either way and have historically often won even in years where it was very hot.
I remember reading somewhere that the primitive human used to hunt just like that, keep following the prey in marathon, tracking their foot step, and slowly drain out the stamina of a prey. Sprinting takes a lot of energy in all animal so it kinda makes sense.
Tracking skills would also have to be part of the arsenal, otherwise something could just run far enough fast enough that we couldn't find it, despite our endurance.
to add to this "humans are weird" thing
did you know that humans are the only species
on earth with the ability to throw things with any
significant degree of accuracy and force (apes can
throw with about the force of a human ten year old,
but cant lock their wrists well enough for accuracy)
and we just never really think about it bc its so easy
and simple to us that pretty much all of our sports
are based around the concept of throwing things
accurately
so
what if the concept of projectile weapons takes
most species FOREVER to get the hang of, or even
come up with in the first place.
a human goes onto a ship and throws some trash
into the nearest reclaimer, shouts "kobe!" and all
the other aliens on board absolutely LOSE THEIR
MINDS
Nope, we are really fucking good at throwing. Basically we created a feadback loop due to how throwing with more accuracy and force was better for hunting and defense that it increased survival ratings. This in turn meant those who threw better got to breed while those who didnt died.
it is not such a stretch. according to Oxford dictionary, to throw is :
1.propel (something) with force through the air by a movement of the arm and hand.
which is a very human concept. We then can not judge other species ability to do it (exept primates). just like we can not say animals don't have languages because thay don't speak english.
2.send suddenly into a particular state or condition.
The archer fish is then very efficient at sending water into a particular state or condition with high accuracy.