From: Keith Henson (keith@filoli.com)
Date: Mon Jan 20 1997 - 11:51:10 MST
On Sun, 19 Jan 1997, J de Lyser wrote:
> i wrote:
> >Correct me if i'm wrong, but there we're also no lions at the time of
> >Autralopethicus Afarensis.
>
> come to think of it, cheetas weren't around at the time of Australopithecus
> either. In fact i think most big cats only developed during the last two
> million years, the only other big cat who might have just been around near
> the end of 'Lucy's' period was saber tooth tiger (smilodon). All the others
> had to deal with homo habilis, well capable of defending himself with spears
> and tools. Add to that that the later varieties of Australopithecus probably
> had some primitive tools already. I think early Australopithecus had to deal
> with far fewer predators. I'm going to look it up, but i'm almost sure that
> the big cats didn't develop, until the homonids were well on their way.
I seem to remember reading that one of the sites where a lot of Lucy's kin
were found was originally a cave under a tree where the local leopards
dragged their kills. The skulls had puncture marks which fit the tooth
spacing of the leopards of that time. Keith Henson
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.5 : Fri Nov 01 2002 - 14:44:02 MST