Man the Hunted: Primates, Predators, and Human Evolution.MAN THE HUNTED: Primates, Predators, and Human Evolution DONNA HART AND ROBERT W. SUSSMAN Follow human ancestry far enough back, and you'll come to a time when Homo sapiens Homo sapiens (Latin; “wise man”) Species to which all modern human beings belong. The oldest known fossil remains date to c. 120,000 years ago—or much earlier (c. " forerunners weren't atop the food chain, argue Hart and Sussman. Our ancestors Our Ancestors (Italian: I Nostri Antenati) is the name of Italo Calvino's "heraldic trilogy" that comprises The Cloven Viscount (1952), The Baron in the Trees (1957), and The Nonexistent Knight (1959). regularly had to fend off attacks from wild cats and dogs Cats and Dogs A slang term referring to speculative stocks that have short or suspicious histories for sales, earnings, dividends, etc. Notes: In a bull market analysts will often mention that everything is going up, even the cats and dogs. , hyenas, snakes, crocodiles, and other beasts, conservation scientist Hart and anthropologist Sussman say. They base their ideas on their own and others' studies of the fossil record and of animals preying on modern monkeys. The authors also cite recent attacks by mountain lions mountain lion: see puma. on joggers in California. They contend that pressure from predators shaped our evolution and gave us large brains and speech. Among other provocative ideas, Hart and Sussman suggest that our love of large, open vistas harks back to a need to see predators approaching and that our fondness for socializing comes from early humans' need to join groups for protection. Presented with a touch of humor humor, according to ancient theory, any of four bodily fluids that determined man's health and temperament. Hippocrates postulated that an imbalance among the humors (blood, phlegm, black bile, and yellow bile) resulted in pain and disease, and that good health was , this book will be enjoyed by anyone interested in human origins. Westview Press, 2005, 312 p., b&w illus, Hardcover, $29.95. |
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