When People Fled Hyenas

ABC News ^ | By Lee Dye

[Cogadh na Sith]

How did the 80k year old Jomon and the less old Ainu get to Asia? (They came across Siberia, that's how.)

Maybe that was before the big hyenas showed up.

[spiffy]

they have been known to drag a human hunter from a tent in Africa and crush his bones like toothpicks.

This happened in Africa within the past couple of years, only it wasn't a hunter that was dragged but a young boy from Baltimore, in Africa on some kind of Safari. I remember reading about it. His mother was on the trip, too, I think. The guides were not allowed to carry guns.

[sphinx]

plus if that's cold, with frozen glaciers as far as the eye can see, would you make a trip across the land bridge not knowing what was on the other side or if there even was another side?

Yeah, if the hyenas were after me ....

[Cogadh na Sith]

I've got a pretty good idea what these dogs looked like:

From www.chowchow.org: Origin of the Chow Chow Scientific research indicates that the Chow Chow originated in China as long as 3,000 years ago, according to some canine historians. On the other hand, some scholars believe that the Chow came first from the Arctic Circle and then migrated to Mongolia, Siberia and China. The American kennel Club's publication The Complete Dog Book (1972) states that the Chow came about through a crossing of the old Mastiff of Tibet and the Samoyed from the northern parts of Siberia. However, other scholars claim that the Chow was the original ancestor of the Samoyed, the Norwegian Elk hound, the Pomeranian and the Keeshond. However, the following datum has been agreed on universally: the Chow as it is known today is easily recognizable in pottery and bas-relief sculpture of the Han Dynasty (206 B.C. to 220 A.D.); this period was marked by bureaucratic monarchy, a revival of litters and the introduction of Buddhism. It is said to be the era in which modern China was born. Other artifacts indicate that the Chow was a distinct breed in China as early as 1000 B.C., a conservative estimate, certainly.

Chows are very territorial, very protective of their owners and will try to hunt small animals (and kids). They used to be much larger than current AKC breeds and were used in war by the mongols--the Chinese called them 'bear-dogs'. They are the perhaps the oldest domesticated breed and the ancestor to all 'spitz type' dogs.

Chows have tremendously strong jaws, some of the strongest among canines, loose skin and lots of fur--a black tongue to collect heat on a siberian day...

Can you think of better a better domestic animal designed to ward off hyenas?.

Hmmmm, I have 3 chows (well, 2 1/2 really--one is part sneaky neighbor dog). They have all of the above characteristics--I should put on a show about hyenas and turn up the volume and see if they have any instinctual reaction to it....

[blam]

I had a Chow that had a multicolored tongue, pink and dark blue.

[SunkenCiv]

thanks VadeRetro. Blast from the Past to the ping list.

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[Little Bill]

If there were big hyenas, these people ate big hyena stew. Our ancestors went after Cave Bears. There were remains found in Italy(?) of a guy who had been mauled by a cave bear while looking for a fur coat.

The nastiest predator in the history of earth is us, if you want pest control give me a guy with a stone ax and a flint tipped spear.

[ForGod'sSake]

FGS

[SunkenCiv]

Eeeee!

[dzzrtrock]

Well it sure wasn't el presidente geo. BOOSH and his border patrol keeping them out...

[xm177e2]

think how incredibly brave or desperate you would have to be to make such a trip.

Or religious.

Or, they might not have understood what a "peninsula" was. They would have assumed they could follow a coastline indefinitely. It's not like they had a birds-eye view of the world. If their culture was migratory, they might not have questioned why they wanted to keep moving.

[SunkenCiv]

Just updating the GGG information, not sending a general distribution.

Christy Turner and his Russian colleagues may have found an answer to a question that has hounded him for more than three decades.

Yeah, that's funny.

To all -- please ping me to other topics which are appropriate for the GGG list. Thanks.

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[SunkenCiv]

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