At 6:40 +0900 23/1/03, Tom Bridgeland wrote:

>Even then, whole
>body fat counts do not mean much, as the skin and bones etc
>were not eaten

On the contrary. A large proportion of the fat in some wild animals
(e.g. the kangaroo) is contained in the skin and bone marrow.
Especially in environments or seasons when fat is scarce, these
components would certainly have been eaten.


>, and people can easily pick and choose the
>fattiest portions from a big kill, just as lions do today.
>Lions eat the internal organs first, and leave the dry meat
>to the hyenas. Humans are at least as smart as lions.

Indeed. Which leads to the question of what proportion of the carcass
would have been discarded? And what was the fat:protein:carb ratio at
which paleo people were instinctively aiming?

I would think that they would have used as much of the carcass as they
could have (due to the energy expenditure and possible danger involved
in the hunt). The limiting factor being availability of fat and carbs
to alleviate protein toxicity.

 ...R.