The myth of the predator threat

Many people imagine “cavemen” as if they lived mostly from meat.  At the same time, they are supposed to have lived under constant threat from predators.  The combination of these conditions is in fact anachronistic.  It seems to be based on misunderstandings of the predators’ normal behaviour.  One has modelled their behaviour on the ones the animals show in proximity to civilisation.  In reality, the unnatural environment led to an oftentimes abnormal behaviour.  Predators living in actual wilderness usually behave differently.

Once upon a time there were animal species which liked to eat pre-humans.  But when the pre-humans started to eat more meat life changed to large predators.  First the pre-humans stole their food.  Later, they started to hunt the same prey which the predators depended on.  The better people got at hunting the better they also got at defending themselves against predators.  (Yes, I consider Homo erectus people.)  Eventually, the species went extinct which regularly hunted pre-humans.  Those large land predators which survived can very well kill humans.  They just don’t see any reason to do that other than in self-defence.

In the wilderness there is only one reason for predators to seek out humans.  It is if they think we can lead them to “free food” (garbage and/or unsupervised foodstuffs).  If they are then discovered, they behave in a way which is closest to burglars caught red-handed.  This in contrast which the insane mass-murderers they have been pictured as.

Uploaded on the 7th of February 2023.