From: J de Lyser (gd33463@glo.be)
Date: Sun Jan 19 1997 - 13:04:46 MST
>John K Clark <johnkc@well.com> wrote:
>There is nothing fast about bipedalism.
One of the advantages of bipedalism could be to look imposing, bears stand
on their hind legs when they take on a defensive posture.
>If you can see a predator better by standing up high, it also means >that
the predator can see you better too, and because you're bipedal, >the
predator is a lot faster than you are. If you can't run away from >danger a
better strategy would be to hide and keep low.
This itself would suggest that Australopithecus Afarensis was capable of
defending himself against predators, as it seems unlikely that they had much
higer reproduction rates, or much slower pregnancy times. Australopithecus
Afarensis was succesful enough as a species to speciate numerous times,
therefore it must have had some way of avoiding its predators.
>But there were no spears, or tools of any sort at that time, ancestors
>like Lucy (Australopithecus Afarensis) with their tiny, chimp sized >brains
were too dumb to make them.
Correct me if i'm wrong, but there we're also no lions at the time of
Autralopethicus Afarensis. Panthera Atrox had to deal with Homo Habilis, one
who did use spears and tools. Any big cat that hunts alone, would think
twice before attacking a group of Australopithicus or 'chimps', for that
matter as they do throw rocks and stones !, rather he would single out one,
sneak up and be gone before the rest had come to aid, and he'd still have to
be pretty hungry to try.
J. de Lyser
Brussels
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