That's interesting, but we can't ignore the important place meat, including carrion, seems to have played. Paul ----- Original Message ----- From: "Amadeus Schmidt" <[log in to unmask]> To: <[log in to unmask]> Sent: Monday, November 26, 2001 11:34 AM Subject: Niches (Re: yams and sweet potatoes [and seeds] > On Sun, 25 Nov 2001 10:13:20 -0500, Paul Getty <[log in to unmask]> wrote: > > >Our digestive systems are also set up for digesting meat..........so there > >is not one "THE" ecological niche for humans. > > > > Yes, it's more the problem to digest some plant items. > The ecological niche is about the availability of food items. > > For example chimps cannot survive in the savanna, because in a dry season > they lack fallback foods. > If some hominids can access undergroud roots there, with few competition > (only with some pigs and mole rats) then that's a ecological niche. > Which can be filled by creatures with the techniques or genetic adaption to > cope with the food. The more difficult to access or digest, the greater the > chance to be alone in the niche - and be successfull therefore. > > The more unique the technique (like fire or stone tools) the less > competition, the more success. > They daytime bipedal moving gains access to more tubers and carrion. > Fire doubles the calories and scares off predators. > That's a niche, maybe the explanation for the success of h.erectus. > > Amadeus > >