5 ms·
Nine Neanderthals were hunted by a pack of Hyenas? Wow, didn't realize Hyenas could be so aggressive, and couldn't be warded off by sticks and maybe fire.
by briefcomment 5y ago
Nine Neanderthals were hunted by a pack of Hyenas? Wow, didn't realize Hyenas could be so aggressive, and couldn't be warded off by sticks and maybe fire.
- nicklecompte 5y agoThey could have been ill or mostly elderly - in fact that seems quite probable. And we don’t know much about Neanderthal behavior but they may have been less able to outwit/intimidate hyenas than modern humans. That said, if “pack” means 50 hyenas, 10 humans with primitive spears could quickly run into trouble. In the wild hyena packs can be as large as 100.
- matco11 5y agothat’s not what they say it happened. The human remains accumulated there over time. From the article: > Experts believe the individuals lived in different time periods. Some bones could be as old as 50,000 to 68,000 years, whereas the most ancient remains are believed to be 100,000 years old.
- lostlogin 5y agoIt’s surprising to me how large those bone fragments are. Hyenas crush bone and have spectacularly strong jaws. If that cave was somewhere they lived or rested, I’d have expected any bones to be completely destroyed by chewing, yet the photo doesn’t show that.
- masklinn 5y agoHyenas eat bones to supplement their calcium and phosphorus intake. Well-fed hyenas without such deficiencies would likely not bother.
- the_af 5y agoA misconception about Hyenas is that they are primarily scavengers. They are not -- they are hunters, and pretty aggressive at that. I read more than once that the traditional relationship between lions and hyenas as popular culture has it is actually backwards: hyenas mostly hunt, and lions mostly steal their kills. Also, a single lion (or two) facing a pack of hyenas is in dire peril. Hyenas are clever, strong and dangerous. There are YouTube videos about this.
- officialjunk 5y agoalso hyenas can open doors with lever handles. there was one that escaped into the hallways at a university lab while i was there. luckily no one was hurt.
- david38 5y agoI would have have given a kidney to see that.
- dogma1138 5y agoThey might oblige you for one.
- officialjunk 5y agoit was sedated, but still a danger. not sure how it initially got loose, but it was assumed that it wouldn't be able to leave the room, which quickly was disproven.
- runeks 5y agoSome poor university student nearly did.
- geoduck14 5y agoI genuinely thought this was a Lion King reference at first.
- progre 5y agoLike this one. Wanna see a scared lion? https://youtu.be/a5V6gdu5ih8 https://youtu.be/a5V6gdu5ih8
- _dps 5y agoI like this video a lot, both because it shows the lion in peril against the pack of hyenas but also because it shows that it only takes one additional lion to change the balance completely. When the second lion shows up around 2:50 the hyenas just disperse and don't even bother fighting.
- gostsamo 5y agoIt took thousands of years to make them nine. The bones are from different periods.
- pengaru 5y agoHyenas are notorious for being assholes But any carnivorous pack animal is just an Alpha's decision to attack away from being a problem. The scarcer food gets, the more riskier sources they'll pursue.
- rmk 5y agoIf you read the article, you will see that the individuals were dragged into the cave over a span of tens of thousands of years. They were not hunted en-masse.