Amadeus,
There are 4 Jean Auel books.  I hope you will read them in order.  They each
build on the previous one and each expands more on the geography, seasons,
animals, plant life, etc.  The library here has supplied us with all the
books, so we did not have to buy them.

Btw:  Auel's books have been published in many languages--including German,
French, and many others... so you can pick which version you prefer to read.

It sounds like most of the animals got fat in the season preceding winter,
to ready themselves for the cold.  I don't argue that.... maybe I didn't
quite get the gist of your initial post.   I think we have understanding
now; however, it is interesting that with humans diet (not genes) has more
to do with getting fat than not.  For example, there are groups of people
who were previously lean but when put on a Western diet became obese,then
when returned to their native diet, they slimmed down.   Granted, you won't
see a fat ocean perch or red snapper, though Ihave eaten lean salmon.

I'll be curious to hear your thoughts after you read Auel's books.  Be
forewarned, however.  Here is a note from one of my husband's co-workers who
took his lead and started reading Auel's books:

"I absolutely LOVE the Jean Auel books; as a matter of fact, I have about 75
pages to go - I'll probably finish tonight - and the library is holding book
II for me to pick up on my way home; I'm so excited.  I am so glad
Don told me about these;  I am so wrapped up in them, I can hardly bring
myself to do anything but read!  I just love it when an author has such
powers of description that he/she draws you in and you feel like you're
really in that world.  Jean Auel seem to have an extraordinary ability to do
that.  And her characters are so vivid and wonderful.  Truly an all-around
terrific reading experience!"

They mention pemmican in the books too.... :-))

Break's over, back to work for me,
Rachel