1 million years ago, who were humans predators?

[clambunny]

people always say "we evolved this way because 1 million years ago humans had to deal with these predators". or something like that. what exactly were those predators humans had to deal with a long time ago?

[diebitter]

big-ass cats and packs of dogs.

[clambunny]

do lions even attack people? like people commonly think black bears like eating people but they don't, and grizzly bears only kind of do.

[fluxrad]

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people always say "we evolved this way because 1 million years ago humans had to deal with these predators".

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Who says this? I have never heard this before. AFAIK, humans have never had a natural predator.

[clambunny]

Like, the flight or fight response was developed in regard to predators. Or humans living in groups was a way to defend against predators, etc.

[TheCroShow]

i saw an old school video filmed in the 70s..anyway, a lion attacked a foolish tourist that ventured too far from his vehicle while on a safari tour. it was graphic, so i think lions can fit the role. how about man vs. man? OOOOOOHHHH lol how about a rhino about to charge your ass?

[clambunny]

WTF are you talking?

[gamblore99]

I bet a lot of that is fighting between other humans, or groups of humans. Also caves or an open field are not the same as a city. Even if bears or lions dont eat human, they still wander around human terriotry. Plus when hunting, humans may aggrevate animals. And there are probably lots of other animals that are now exticnt that like to kill humans.

[fluxrad]

I was speaking more about a predator that had humans as its primary souce of food.

That being said, I can't seem to find an evolutionary biology degree on my wall, so please feel free to tell me I don't know what the hell I'm talking about ;-)

[diebitter]

No predators had humans as it's primary food source - parasites yep, predators nope.

[Blarg]

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do lions even attack people? like people commonly think black bears like eating people but they don't, and grizzly bears only kind of do.

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I've read many accounts of lions eating people. I've got several books about tigers and leopards doing it too. I just got done reading some short accounts, in a collection about man-eating animals, of numerous single lions, lion couples, and whole lion packs eating people. Many of them eat a lot of people, too. I read about two of them that in a month ate 44 people.r

Sometimes it's because they're old or lame, or because they are on their own, without a pack. This can happen with male lions who are chased out of packs, for instance. One lion that killed a few people actually only had three legs, so he had little choice in prey. Others, though, fully healthy, seem to simply acquire a strong liking for human prey, whether because of the utter easy and lack of danger in hunting them, for the flavor, or both, I guess.

[HopeydaFish]

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do lions even attack people? like people commonly think black bears like eating people but they don't, and grizzly bears only kind of do.

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Do a quick search on Google. There are plenty of instances of lion attacks. Every so often they'll rampage and take out 10-20 villagers in the space of a food weeks. This usually only happens when their natural food sources are not available.

There are places in India where tigers consider humans as just another food source. It's illegal to hunt tigers in India and the penalties for doing so are severe, so tigers don't have much fear of humans.

There's been a few cases of mountain lions killing humans in the western US and Canada. Same with grizzly bears. And polar bears will kill you without a second thought.

Basically, if a predatory animal is hungry and is bigger than you -- especially if you're alone, it may try to eat you. To the predator, you're just another walking source of meat.

What saved human ancestors millions of years ago was the fact that we travelled in groups, had primitive weapons to defend ourselves with, were more intelligent and could make fire.

[gulebjorn]

Were there humans 1 million years ago?

[jakethebake]

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Were there humans 1 million years ago?

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Depends how you define human. I think Lucy was like 3 million years ago?

[Clarkmeister]

What predators do Chimpanzees deal with?

[HopeydaFish]

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Were there humans 1 million years ago?

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Not modern humans, but our ancestors.

http://www.voicechoice.com/images/flintstone.jpg

[diebitter]

I think - I could be wrong - leopards will prey on chimps.

[HopeydaFish]

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What predators do Chimpanzees deal with?

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Man, leopards, baboons, and large snakes.

[Blarg]

Not to mention other chimpanzees.

And I guess crocodiles prey on everyone. Maybe big snakes too.

[Prevaricator]

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people always say "we evolved this way because 1 million years ago humans had to deal with these predators". or something like that. what exactly were those predators humans had to deal with a long time ago?

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what do you mean evolved this way? what way? are you talking about intelligence, physique, what?

[bwana devil]

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Do a quick search on Google. There are plenty of instances of lion attacks. Every so often they'll rampage and take out 10-20 villagers in the space of a food weeks. This usually only happens when their natural food sources are not available.

There are places in India where tigers consider humans as just another food source. It's illegal to hunt tigers in India and the penalties for doing so are severe, so tigers don't have much fear of humans.

There's been a few cases of mountain lions killing humans in the western US and Canada. Same with grizzly bears. And polar bears will kill you without a second thought.

Basically, if a predatory animal is hungry and is bigger than you -- especially if you're alone, it may try to eat you. To the predator, you're just another walking source of meat.

What saved human ancestors millions of years ago was the fact that we travelled in groups, had primitive weapons to defend ourselves with, were more intelligent and could make fire.

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that's what my user name is from, "bwana devil". i use it for differnet reasons. but it was one of the first 3D films which is based on a true story about a village in africa that was attacked by lions because the lions' natural food supply became scarce. it's supposed to be an absolutely horrid film.

it was remade in the 90s as "the ghost in the darkness."

[Blarg]

And in the 50's by Bob Hope as Call Me Bwana.

Just kidding.

[HopeydaFish]

I saw that movie (the remake, not the original), and had read that it was based on a true story.

I think a lot of people have no idea exactly how big and fast a full grown lion is. You have absolutely no chance against it if you're out in the open and it decides to eat you.

[clambunny]

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people always say "we evolved this way because 1 million years ago humans had to deal with these predators". or something like that. what exactly were those predators humans had to deal with a long time ago?

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what do you mean evolved this way? what way? are you talking about intelligence, physique, what?

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not clear on your question. i'm not really talking about anything ins pecific that evolved right now, just curious who exactly these nebulous predators were that are referred to so often.

[HopeydaFish]

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people always say "we evolved this way because 1 million years ago humans had to deal with these predators". or something like that. what exactly were those predators humans had to deal with a long time ago?

[/ QUOTE ]

what do you mean evolved this way? what way? are you talking about intelligence, physique, what?

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not clear on your question. i'm not really talking about anything ins pecific that evolved right now, just curious who exactly these nebulous predators were that are referred to so often.

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Mostly animals that are the ancestors of modern predators. Saber-toothed tigers would be a good example.

Many of the predators that ancient humans had to deal with were much bigger than modern predators. There aren't too many large predators left on the planet. Many of them died out during ice ages or were outcompeted for food by humans.

[Blarg]

Remember also that territoriality and motherhood make animals aggressive too. On motherhood, there are the cautionary tales of mother bears destroying anything that wanders between them and their cubs, which applies handily to other species. On territoriality, hippos, rhinos, and even deer can be fiercely territorial and aggressive. And during mating season, elephants can go into a rage and charge anything without any provocation at all, including smashing down trees. Even animals that basically have no interest in other animals can be serious threats to them.

[RacersEdge]

I think we were still called [censored] erectus 1 million years ago and pretty much still in Africa - so pretty much bigger version of the animals in Africa today would be my guess as "predators".

[Blarg]

Censored Erectus. I like that. I want to be that species.

[clambunny]

thanks for responses gentlemen

Humans were the predators.

Former archaeology/anthro student here:

There is some debate to this, but most modern archaeologists accept modern humans- [censored] Sapiens Sapiens- emerged from east Africa around 125k-200k years before present.

[censored] erectus was our (likely) ancestor. There are numerous caves throughout Africa that contain fossilized skulls of early Hominids with jaguar puncture marks in them. They also had to deal with every other predatory animal. The erectus's most valuable asset was its intelligence, with a cranial capacity of 750-1250 cubic centimeters (pushing them into the lower range of modern humans). The erectus could easily plan and communicate with other erectuses (not yet as a developed language system, as the larynx was not yet low enough in the throat to produce what we consider spoken words) and formulate attacks and escapes.

The erectus was most likely the first hominid to leave the continent of Africa. Their route of migration took them through southwest Asia (the Middle East), through China, Indonesia, and also upwards into Europe, where they evolved into [censored] heidelbergensis.

[RacersEdge]

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Censored Erectus. I like that. I want to be that species.

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lol, we might have just found the ultimate screen name.

[Stu Pidasso]

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what exactly were those predators humans had to deal with a long time ago?


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Sleestacks

http://www.motleycrow.com/ImageHost/sleestack.jpg

Stu

[Blarg]

Yeah, [censored] those heidelbergensisians!