On Sun, 9 Jun 2002 06:12:55 -0700 Lynda Bryson <[log in to unmask]>
writes:
> The article's reference to wolves eating 65% of their
> diet as fruit in the summer is consistent with their
> ability to take advantage of whatever is available to
> them at any given time.  Summer is only 3 months of
> the year -- if factored over an entire year, that
> percentage would no doubt be much lower.

Jan in Colorado sent:
Delurking here.  We lived on a ranch in S. Texas for 18
years which had many coyotes.  Their feces contained large
amounts of (rabbit) hair most of the year, but during the mid
to late summer, they were almost exclusively made of undigested
prickley pear fruit and seeds.

Ardeith writes:
And who was it who wrote the piece about Artic wolves that
did quite well all summer on the mice they caught in the area
....and I suppose rabbits too.....while raising cubs, and awaiting
the return of the caribou?   I think the pack stayed in the area,
when the caribou went south, because they had newborn cubs.

Anyway.....The Paleo-point to this is that the author determined
(somehow.....I don't remember exactly how) that the mice were
bite-sized protein snacks for the wolves.....I have some vague
recall that the author caught some, killed and cleaned them, and
tried them himself....but that could be a "Crone-moment" kicking
in.   So, if a pack of wolves raised a litter of cubs and did well
on a diet of mostly mice......this just proves to me that our own
ancestors could, and probably did, do just as well on the small
animals they caught between the hunts for larger game animals.

We get hung up on the food value of the big animals....deer,
moose, elk, cows, antelope, pigs, etc......and forget that there
are all sorts of small animals out there.....mice, birds, snakes,
snails, bugs, bird and reptile eggs, turtles, fish....and probably
others that I can't think of just now.        I don't want to eat
mice......my snake can have those.....but I have eaten rattle-
snake and aligator and turtle.....and I prefer hot, juicy,
blood-running steak!    But I know my ancestors were not
so picky......they ate everything available!

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Walk The Path With Practical Feet!



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