Posted on 02/19/2006 12:18:49 PM PST by blam
Predators 'drove human evolution'
By Paul Rincon
BBC News science reporter, St Louis
The alternative view that man was the one hunted was suggested
The popular view of our ancient ancestors as hunters who conquered all in their way is wrong, researchers have told a major US science conference.
Instead, they say, early humans were on the menu for predatory beasts.
This may have driven humans to evolve increased levels of co-operation, according to their theory.
Despite humankind's considerable capacity for war and violence, we are highly sociable animals, according to anthropologists.
James Rilling at Emory University in Atlanta, US, has been using brain imaging techniques to investigate the biological mechanisms behind co-operation.
He has imaged the brains of people playing a game under experimental conditions that involved choosing between co-operation and non-co-operation.
From the parts of the brain that were activated during the game, he found that mutual co-operation is rewarding; people reacted negatively when partners did not co-operate.
Dr Rilling also discovered that his subjects seemed to have enhanced memory for those people that did not reciprocate in the experiment.
Man 'the hunted'
By contrast, our closest relatives - chimpanzees - have been shown not to come to the aid of others, even when it would pose no cost to themselves.
"Our intelligence, co-operation and many other features we have as modern humans developed from our attempts to out-smart the predator," said Robert Sussman of Washington University in St Louis.
According to the theory espoused by Professor Sussman, early humans evolved not as hunters but as prey for animals such as wild dogs, cats, hyenas, eagles and crocodiles.
He points to the example of one ape-like species thought to be ancestral to humans, Australopithecus afarensis.
A. afarensis was what is known as an "edge species"; it could live in trees and on the ground, and could take advantage of both.
"Primates that are edge species, even today, are basically prey species, not predators," Professor Sussman explained.
Hard target
Dr Agustin Fuentes at the University of Notre Dame agrees with the predation hypothesis.
He believes early humans were subject to several evolutionary pressures, including predation.
But he also thinks they were expending more energy at this time and that child-rearing became more demanding.
All these factors contributed to an emergence of sociable behaviour in hominids that made them harder targets for predators.
Dr Fuentes points to fossil evidence of predation in two different groups of humanlike species: Australopithecus and Paranthropus.
The latter group, it appears, could not adapt to pressures such as predation, and became extinct between one and 1.2 million years ago.
The scientists outlined their work at the American Association for the Advancement of Science annual meeting in St Louis,
Please FREEPMAIL me if you want on or off the
Gods, Graves, Glyphs PING list or GGG weekly digest
-- Archaeology/Anthropology/Ancient Cultures/Artifacts/Antiquities, etc.
Gods, Graves, Glyphs (alpha order)
I believe the French survived because they left a bad taste in the mouth of major predators.
So far, in my experience, it's always been the other way around...
I missed that movie. A remake of Food of the Gods, perhaps?
Well, we eventually became able to kill crocodile, but we have not succeeded in making them fearful of us. But for purposes of this exercise in imagination, I was assuming a small, weak hominid and wondering why they would let themselves be crocodile food except as a very occasional accident. It's not like 40,000 people have to migrate they herd across the river to get to the wintering grounds, and they are willing to lose a few along the way. We are talking about small bands of people, and even if they have very rudimentary brains, they ought to be smart enough to stay away from the crocodile hole.
That's a really interesting article (although I think you may have meant that reply for the OP rather than for me).
I've read and seen the documents. Convinced me.
Ah! Thanks!
"The case of who killed the single most important human ancestor has finally been laid to rest after more than 80 years of debate and scientific investigation. The announcement that the Taung child was killed by an eagle was made on Thursday by Professor Lee Berger at an international conference held at the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits) in Johannesburg."
if you are with defensive weapons, you are armed. i am kidding with you, of course. but your point is taken. humans have only one real weapon: a highly developed brain. we do not have huge teeth or claws or the speed of predators. this theory seems like a no-brainer. pun intended.
i remember studying the Taung Child in college. mostly in my human osteology class. my professors believed it was death by a large cat of some sort. great new evidence of death by raptor.
"With the exception of horses, more humans are killed by dogs then any other animal."
Depends on how you look at it.
If you except humans, and limit yourself to large animals, that's probably true. More humans are killed by other humans than by any other large animal.
If you consider indirect effects of small animal attacks, though, the biggest animal killer of humans is the mosquito, by far. One might say that it's really the Malaria, but then, one might say that the dog or bear doesn't kill anyone; what kills an animal attack victim is oxygen deprivation to the brain. What deprives the brain of oxygen is loss of blood or cutting of the airway. What causes the loss of blood or cuts off the airway is the dog bites.
Likewise, what causes death is the malaria but what causes the malaria to be there is the mosquito bite.
"Lions charge into herd of wildebeest. Once they have singled out a victim the other wildebeest ignore it and relax. They make no effort to help their fellow."
One of those nature shows had an episode where the cape buffalo came to the aid of one of the herd, driving off the lions. The lions regrouped and the buffalo gave up.
Elephants won't tolerate lions around the water hole and will chase them off. I think they can get up to 25 mph, which is useful here.
I just saw that last week. The lions killing a buffalo is not 'a slam-dunk.'
Well, you're certainy entitled to believe whatever you want. I however, remain highly skeptical.
So much for 'man's best friend' huh?
bump for later scrutiny.
And still are...
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.