Re: predators for large animals?

[Derek Tearne <derek@nezsdc.fujitsu.co.nz>]

> 

I totally agree with everything Tom said.

> However, one genus of elephantid predator, Homo, is doing very well (no
> "smiley face" for this comment - it's very serious.  Many people tend to
> forget that we are part of the evolutionary history of life on earth as
> much as any other species, and since H. erectus we've been hunting
> elephantids).

I would also like to point out that Homo is a medium sized pack hunting 
predator with neither sharp claws or teeth.

Future palaeontologists will have a devil of a job sorting out what
happened here, especially as, overnight, examples of select groups of 
mammals (us, our domestic animals and retinue of rodent pests) suddenly 
appear on every continent (imagine the hypothetical land bridges they 
will construct!).  

Those future scientists will probably largely discount the role of this 
medium sized omnivore with soft flattened teeth called Homo.  They 
certainly won't pick us as being the primary predator of our times.

I do not envy those future scientists one little bit.


---
Derek Tearne.                                           derek@fujitsu.co.nz
Some of the more environmentally aware dinosaurs were worried about the
consequences of an accident with the new Iridium enriched fusion reactor.
"If it goes off only the cockroaches and mammals will survive..." they said.