Re: lions & savannah

Will in New Haven wrote:

claudiusdenk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx wrote:
Will in New Haven wrote:
Marc Verhaegen wrote:
If you ever again see someone claim that hominids on the savannah might have
prevented Lion attack by throwing rocks, refer them to the video below.
Warning: because the humans have high-powered rifles, this video has some
portions that may be troubling to those who respect animals, and the same
site of origin has other videos that demonstrate amply how helpless we are
against lions...in the worst possible way. I strongly suggest that those not
be watched at all.

I know that you aren't attacking a straw man, not exactly. Some people
have trivialized the difficulty of dealing with lions but that does not
mean much. Early hominids would not be detterred by the presence of
lions, any more than eland are.

This is a plainly stupid statement. Eland are quadrupedal, fast
runners, and have horns. Hominids have none of these adaptations.


Google "Masai" to see how some people without high-powered rifles
killed lions.

A'pith didn't have rifles.

Neither do the Masai who regularly, until they were stopped by the

And they do it one on one.

British, hunted lions succcesfully with spears. On the other hand, the
A'pith were smaller than humans and did not have spears either. What
they had was the ability to climb and to hide. The survival of the

If chimps can use rocks and sticks, it would not be beyond australopiths.

species would not be threatened by the fact that they could not avoid
some predation by lions. I guess the point some people are making is
that they could not survive in COMPLETELY open country but I have been
assuming the existance of brush and clumps of trees. Babboons survive
in lion country. Eland were a bad example as they do have spears, as it
were.


The idea that lions never killed early hominids is, of
course, ridiculous. Lions kill lots of animals and none of them become
extinct thereby. Lions are not immune to spears, poison, traps and tons
of other things that humans have devised. Before those things were
devised, hominids were another prey species that had to survive losses
from lion predation.

There IS no desirable environment that won't have dangerous predators.
That does not stop any creature from inhabiting such an environment.

Speculative nonsense.

No, just a fact. There isn't anywhere one would want to live that does
not have dangerous predators. Until, that is, humans got to the point
where they could eliminate the predators.


It
would not stop hominids.

That's because hominids never ventured far from the protection of
trees.

However, the protection of the trees exists here and there through vast
areas that are not thickly forested.


The social predators of the savannah, the lion
and the hyena, are terrible and very dangerous. Creatures as diverse as
elephants and bush pigs survive with them around. So could hominids.

Yes, because they stayed in the vicinity of trees.

I will agree with that but I don't think it restricts them all that
much, depending on the climate at the time. "In the vicinity of the
trees" covers a lot of ground.
.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: When Burial Begins
    ... having out-competed the lions and hyenas. ... Lucy and the Hadza did not lead the same way of life, ... only imagination loons like you are making that claim. ... Lucy (hominids) buried her ...
    (sci.anthropology.paleo)
  • Re: lions & savannah
    ... lions, ... Hominids have none of these adaptations. ... A'pith were smaller than humans and did not have spears either. ... assuming the existance of brush and clumps of trees. ...
    (sci.anthropology.paleo)
  • Re: When Burial Begins
    ... having out-competed the lions and hyenas. ... The equilibrium is between prey and predators. ... At some stage hominids began to sleep on ...
    (sci.anthropology.paleo)
  • Re: Battle at Kruger
    ... hominids present in such a habitat. ... animals often die in places that ... Neither do lions. ... stand of fruit trees and such, ...
    (sci.anthropology.paleo)
  • Re: lions & savannah
    ... study of predators and their prey. ... Lions would kill early hominids. ... Hyenas would also kill savanna hominids. ... None of this has ever caused a prey population to become extinct. ...
    (sci.anthropology.paleo)