Sorry, I have to disagree. Depends a lot on the predator and its hunting
style. Lions often kill very quickly, but on the other hand there is
sometimes a lot of chasing and fighting involved with large game. Feeding
can also start even before the animal is dead. Canines kill large game after
hours of chasing and harassment.

Humans were I am sure very efficient hunters, but that does not necessarily
mean that all kills were quick. I suspect that for large game an animal was
often wounded from ambush and then chased down. Humans don't have to run
fast, just relentlessly.

Reading a book now about Australia. A favored means of hunting was to burn
off patches and kill animals fleeing the fire. Fire is terrifying to nearly
all animals.

Your comment about shock is applicable to sudden wounds. People who have
been shot sometimes don't even realise it till someone else points out that
they are bleeding!

On 10/7/07, Peter Hummers <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
> >On Sun, 07 Oct 2007 00:24:26 -0400, Tom Bri <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> >
> >I'm guessing that animals experience shock, such that we feel no
> >pain after a serious injury (stress) for some minutes (about 20?),
> >so the meat should not be full of pain-generated hormones.
>
> I tend to agree. I think that nature protects prey from terminal pain
> by flooding their systems with endorphins in such moments, which
> would make their last moments euphoric, if anything.
> --
> [0]     Pete HUMMERS
> |=|__o  Sent from a Classic OS 9.2 Macintosh
>