IMO in humans its just a habbit. We unlike other animals have major sweating to cool us down. I'm not sayin its not a possibility just unlikely.
OK, thanks. In humans I suspect it has more to do with opening up the throat to allow more air through than with staying cool. Humans tend to stick their tongue out when thoroughly winded, rather than when hot, although I have seen some people make a tongue-out gesture (usually accompanied by a hand swipe across the forehead) when it's hot, so I suppose I can't eliminate the possibility that putting the tongue out could have a small cooling effect in humans. Like you said, humans have much less need for a cooling effect than canines because we have lots of sweat glands. My curiosity is much more in the improved airflow and the potential this theoretically could have for athletic performance.
I've done it but only at the end of a run but more like the Haka thing..
Yes, that's the most common time that I've seen people do it, including myself. Up to now I've only done it during a particularly strenous run, such as an intense sprint or uphill run. I don't remember doing it in the past, so I'm not sure why I'm doing that nowadays, but maybe I just never noticed that I was doing it. Maybe I'm getting old and need more oxygen--except that my oxygen saturation levels have consistently measured as 98-99%, which is excellent.
Same how I like of bound a bit when I'm stopping, and stare at people like I'm teh apex predat0r.
I've noticed that since I've been eating a lot of meat that I find myself being less self-conscious about looking directly and confidently at people and that other people tend to look away first now, whereas I tended to in the past. Maybe we do become more like predators when we eat lots of meat.
I think that guy's probably doing the same, just showing off and feeling badass.
My guess is that he probably doesn't know why he started doing it, but that it improves his air intake nonetheless.
Seems pretty dangerous doing that for long though when you're actually running. I bit my tongue in half jumping between court-yard benches when I was younger because I couldn't keep my tongue in my mouth >.>
Wow, that's too bad. I used to be concerned that Michael Jordan would bite off his tongue when he did slam dunks with his tongue out. I would think there would be much more risk when jumping like you and MJ did than when sprinting on a smooth, flat racing track.
MJ reportedly picked up the tongue-out habit subconsciously from seeing his father do it, and his father apparently did it when he was concentrating on a task. Oxygen reportedly improves concentration and mental task performance (
http://iopscience.iop.org/0967-3334/28/4/005/pdf/pm7_4_005.pdf), so it's fun to speculate that MJ's father might have picked up the tongue-out habit because it was reinforced by the slightly improved mental functioning he got from it.
Also, you don't have to put much of the tongue out beyond the teeth to get some of the benefit. Even just putting the tip of the tongue out to the lips flattens it some. The tip can be quickly and easily retracted such a short distance before jumping, so risk is minimized, and anyone who's super concerned about what people might think can also thus get some oxygen-intake benefit discreetly.
Otherwise panting is a method of cooling, and is the main method for most non-human mammals.
Right, and as mentioned above, that's not the main method for humans because of our plentiful sweat glands.
