When Humans Were Prey
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2019-01-08に共有
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Not too long ago, our early human ancestors were under constant threat of attack from predators. And it turns out that this difficult chapter in our history may be responsible for the adaptations that allowed us to become so successful.
Thanks to Julio Lacerda and Studio 252mya for the illustrations of the Taung Child. You can find more of Julio's work here: 252mya.com/gallery/julio-lacerda
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References:
humanorigins.si.edu/evidence/human-fossils/fossils…
humanorigins.si.edu/evidence/human-fossils/species…
humanorigins.si.edu/evidence/human-fossils/fossils…
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time.com/5424347/remains-neanderthal-giant-bird-po…
scienceinpoland.pap.pl/en/news/news%2C31287%2Cscie…
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コメント (21)
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That’s why I leave my kitchen window drapes open. I let the birds see me scramble eggs just so they know what I’m capable of.
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"When Humans were prey." As an Australian, I am pretty sure that was last Thursday.
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dog species: eat humans for centuries humans: evolve into the strongest animals in the world dog species: switch teams
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You know when you're outside and a shadow quickly passes over you and you get this flash of dread and you flinch? The Taung child knows why.
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Imagine being bullied and eventually leveling up so much you can destroy the entire planet
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Everybody in the animal kingdom playing gangsta till a human sharpens a stick
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I can only imagine how terrifying large predator birds would’ve been to early humans. At any moment you could get picked up off the ground and you would never hear them coming.
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And now we even have a saying illustrating this : "two birds one stone" - Taung child's brother
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Some little ape kid running around in Taung: (minding its own business) Giant predatorial bird: Y O I N K
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Early humans: “Ahh call an ambulance!” *picks up sharp stick*: “ but not for me”
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Speaking of humans back when they were prey... One of the most frightening things I've heard is when someone pointed out that the existence of the uncanny valley implies that at some point there was an evolutionary reason to be afraid of something that looked human but wasn't.
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Damn we went from being shaped by our environment to shaping the environment as we see fit
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becoming large, smart, and powerful over a few million years just to give a big evolutionary middle finger to the animals that used to eat us is the most human thing ever.
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When you bullied humans for centuries and now you're on the takeout menu.
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I really appreciate how you pointed out that the researchers' work was influenced by having lived through the World Wars. It's important to remember that science isn't something that exists in some pocket dimension unaffected by the rest of history, it's something that people do, and those people are both influenced by the world around them, and (especially in fields fraught with as much importance as human origins) they are aware of how their theories will influence the world in return.
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Animals: You can’t defeat me Humans: I know. pulls out sharp stick But he can.
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Humans: *looks at dogs* "You're ok. Don't show up to the savannah tomorrow."
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Imagine walking to work and suddenly you're getting picked up by a huge Eagle
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You can find videos right now of Golden Eagles attacking Mountain Goats and carrying them off. That blew my mind seeing that years ago. I never thought that Eagles were big and strong enough to carry that size and heavy a prey. So the idea of our ancestors' children getting picked off by large birds of prey was quite easy for me to believe.
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Similar evolution to prairie dogs, stand upright, communicate effectively about predators, but unfortunately humans don’t yippee once the predator goes away. Also, we’re too big to dig holes to get away from predators like prairie dogs so we had to come up with tools. I think it worked out well for us
