On Thu, 28 Feb 2002 07:29:23 -0500 Amadeus Schmidt <[log in to unmask]>
writes:
Todd wrote:
> >No, the optimal foraging rule doesn't assume scarcity.

Amadeus wrote:
> This is why I think hunting big and dangerous animals like mammoth
> cannot be a good strategy as long as other food items were
> available.

Ardeith writes:
Amadeus, the next part of your response mentioned Australian
plant foods......I think you guys are talking "apples & oranges"
here.......Hunting mammoths and other really big game was
necessary in the cold Northern climates......the hides, meat,
and fat were vital to the people......they could not have survived
the winters on small game.   They even built their shelters from
bones and tusks.   And they certainly couldn't dug tubers from
frozen tundra, if there were even tubers to be found there.

While we are recognizing different people's needs today,
let's remember that different tribes had different needs
in the past.  Comparing the needs of people in warm
climates to the needs of people in cold climates doesn't
prove anything.

Living on greens, tubers, fruit and nuts might be possible
in warm climates, but anyone who tried that in the far
North wouldn't be surviving long.  Our northern ancestors
had to utilize the meat, fat, hide, and bones of big game
animals, regardless of the risks.  The survival of the family,
clan, and tribe depended on such hunting even if individuals
lost their lives in the hunt..........

We may not *need* such risky hunting today.... we get our
"mammoth steaks" from a grocery store.......but those of us
who are descended from those ancient people are primed
to thrive on diets heavy in meat and fats.   Just as those of
us whose ancestors lived in warmer climates may not need
such foods.........

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Walk The Path With Practical Feet!

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