Comments on: “Don’t bother to thank us, just keep those bacon bits coming.”

By: RobVG

RobVG — Thu, 17 May 2012 16:39:52 +0000

Archaeologists found a pit in a cave which was covered by a large rock. Under the rock was a large cache of animal bones. They determined that it was some kind of ceremonial monument.

A young archaeologist looked at the site and found the real explanation; Over time the bones washed down a gully and into a depression on the cave floor. The rock had fallen from the roof of the cave.

Don’t ask me how they found the bones in the first place…

By: TB

TB — Thu, 17 May 2012 15:46:34 +0000

That’s a good point.

I looked at Shipman’s website, and while I haven’t reviewed it in detail so I’m operating on limited data, this may be more like “informed speculation” than something with heavy scientific rigor.

By: ER

ER — Thu, 17 May 2012 15:20:50 +0000

You can’t negotiate with wild African dogs, as Bowser recognizes, they are pretty tough customers, smart as hell, and not easily impressed by naked apes. They also have a highly developed and hierarchical social structure that would be immune to human infiltration.

But puppies, kept by a hominid band as a food reservoir during fat times (feed the puppies excess meat) and consumed as a food reserve in lean times would quickly bond with humans, and demonstrate their worth as guards, sensor platforms, and even allies in battle. After a while it would be clear their value as companions exceeded their value as a mobile food reservoir.

Humans could use the canine instinct to be fiercely loyal to the pack structure, even across species barriers, to their own advantage. And it must be admitted, above and beyond their practical value, humans would soon bond with the beasts as well. Dogs and people like each other, I’m convinced its not entirely an evolved relationship.

You will notice this didn’t work with felines. Cats weren’t domesticated until they proved their worth by hanging around granaries controlling rodents, much later in human evolution. They weren’t about to help humans hunt, be our scouts, or share their prey with us.

This is next to impossible to prove conclusively, but it fits the facts. Every “primitive” tribe we’re familiar with has had canine allies. Can you imagine the Arctic natives surviving without their dogs?
A bone harpoon is no match against a polar bear. We don’t see people domesticating cats until the dynastic Egyptians.

By: RobVG

RobVG — Thu, 17 May 2012 15:09:31 +0000

Usually teeth on a necklace means the animal is a quarry. n/t

By: bowser

bowser — Thu, 17 May 2012 13:40:22 +0000

Once they take after something, they almost always get it. They come at it from all angles, don’t seem to mind losses, and just keep coming and coming and coming.

Now that I think about it, they are sort of like insurgents.

By: TB

TB — Thu, 17 May 2012 13:14:46 +0000

I think people had to be pretty good hunters to attract (and get the respect of) the ancestors of dogs to start with.

Otherwise, they’d just be one more thing on the pack’s lunch list.

By: ER

ER — Thu, 17 May 2012 12:42:55 +0000

…like how a small band of slow, weak, essentially unarmed hominids could deal with the big predators of the savanna. A few men with pointed sticks and clubs could not hold off a pack of hyenas or big cats. Add a handful of big fearless dogs and they are a formidable force.

By: bowser

bowser — Thu, 17 May 2012 06:29:32 +0000

Not only could dogs carry a pretty good load over rough terrain, there are other advantages.

Dogs’ ears and noses will also inform a person if there are any other critters around, something I think would be quite nice to know if one is living in a rural environment. I know that’s great comfort to me when I’m walking in the woods alone at night.

It may well be that Homo Sapiens was assisted in it’s early survival by the extension of it’s sensory system by borrowing dogs.