Ancient Hyenas and The First Americans

DrLudicrous writes "ABC is running a story about anthropologist Christy Turner's theory about hyenas, humans and dogs. The idea is that humans were unable to encroach on Alaska, and thus the Americas, thousands of years ago because of gigantic, bone-crushing hyenas, much larger than their African cousins. Eventually, the domestication of dogs somehow provided the first Americans with protection against these beasts, and within a couple of millenia, the ancient hyenas were extinct."

Good Heavens man

[Syncdata]

extinct because of humans. We really are the cancer of this planet.
Oh yes, what a shame it is that we no longer have packs of 40-50 giant unafraid hyenas scouring the continent. I for one, plan to cry myself to sleep tonight, for the poor, misunderstood giant hyena.
What we did was supplant one pack hunter for another. And I for one, am rooting for the Humans.

Re:Pet Theory

[macdaddy357]

Another problem with the theory is that he thinks there were hyenas becase he found crushed bones. The article did not mention any hyena remains being found. Hyenas don't live on the frozen tundra! Given the evidence, I could just as easily conclude that aliens crushed those bones. Before mutilating cattle, they mutilated humans. Maybe the "hyenas" were their pets, El Chupacabra.

Re:Pet Theory

[0x69]

Look at how well coyotes are doing in America vs. how poorly the (superficially superior) wolf is. How "wild animals vs. man" turns out is more a matter of the animals' MO, attitude, & flexibility than of any sort of fight-in-the-arena Toughness Quotient. A "king of the beasts" that tries standing up to a human tribe's spears & arrows is far less a threat than a cunning bunch of snatch-the-weak-&-run opportunists.

I agree that this theory doesn't have enough evidence behind it to do more than sound interesting. And the "bone crushing" stuff is mostly hype - a hyena's victim is long-gone dead before the bone crushing stage.