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Ancient Hyenas and The First Americans

Posted by michael on from the wise-hyenas-come-out-at-eve dept.

DrLudicrous writes "ABC is running a story about anthropologist Christy Turner's theory about hyenas, humans and dogs. The idea is that humans were unable to encroach on Alaska, and thus the Americas, thousands of years ago because of gigantic, bone-crushing hyenas, much larger than their African cousins. Eventually, the domestication of dogs somehow provided the first Americans with protection against these beasts, and within a couple of millenia, the ancient hyenas were extinct."

2 of 41 comments (clear)

  1. Yet another species by codexus · · Score: 0, Troll

    extinct because of humans. We really are the cancer of this planet.

    --
    True warriors use the Klingon Google
  2. Uh-huh... by cjhuitt · · Score: 1, Troll

    Right. And I bet all of the dinosaur extinctions were our fault as well?

    While I admit that modern humans have a large negative impact on many species, I don't think you can realistically blame our ancestors, who had just learned to domesticate dogs, for winning the competition for food and land area. Just as the hyenas probably caused the species before them to die out, because they were better suited for the competition.

    It's really nutcases like you that make me think bad thoughts about the larger groups of environmentalists, who are most likely made up of a large number of reasonable people.