On Wed, 25 Oct 2000 21:21:46 -0400, Wally Ballou <[log in to unmask]> wrote: I wrote: >> But I'm shure: >> This human creature has *never* hunted an elephant, zebra, or >> anything >> able to run. Wally: >Is that supposed to be an argument? > >You'll have to explain why Lucy and her family couldn't possibly hunt, >catch, kill and consume the fierce mice, rats, other small mammals, >reptiles, birds, fish, crustaceans, > and insects that would make a more >than adequate paleo diet without ever going near elephants or zebra... Wally I just want to share my impression seeing that small and famous sceleton "standing" there. What you list, reptiles insects and the like I do suppose also Lucy would have catched. I suppose in a savannah (low on fruit) the versatile hominids would have exploited any food resource available. I think, when starving you and I and Lucy would eat grasshoppers even if they are not in the preferred or aesthetical food list (This is not ment to be a presumption for *your* preferences). However she looked so small and fragile.... you just wouldn't assume such a body fighting big animals. And also not running quickly. And very probably there's a need of *defending* against predators like leopards. > ...and insects that would make a more >than adequate paleo diet without ever going near elephants or zebra... However you seem to assume that such insects and all that paleo meat-alikes are somewhat essential to a paleolithic living (which are the reason to eat argo-cow muscles as a paleo diet for the most). I've come to the conclusion, that paleo-hominids did eat other creatures. And that conclusion of mine is *not* vegetarian. Don't forget that. I eat zero animal percent. Lucy's grasshoppers are more than that. But IMO the animals couldn't make much of a living. Because they sparsely supply what's essential and the main bottleneck of paleo times: food energy. Example: you need 4 whole lbs of rabbit for only 2200 kcal every day. And if you don't manage to shrink the meat energy below some 35% you'll die of protein intoxication in a few weeks (ref Neanderthin, Speth, Cordaine). And where did the other two thirds come from? Any pure fat source would be ok, but where is it, in the savannah? I don't think it is wise to ignore two thirds of the actual paleo nutrition when attempting to rebuild a modern paleo nutrition. >...I suspect that >you would not have wanted to be the prey of a small band of them if they >took a fancy to the idea of seeing just how tasty you might be... You don't mean a band of Australopithecine women, Lucy and sisters, do you? Cheers, Amadeus readings: http://gened.emc.maricopa.edu/bio/bio181/BIOBK/BioBookHumEvol.html http://www.amnh.org/enews/headl/e1_h15b.html