Standing on our own two feet

[blueboy]

We came out of the jungles and into the wide savanna? We learnt to walk upright, in turn freeing our hands to devlop tools. Hmm!

It's probably been said before but just in case- Does anybody agree with me that in following this rout we were putting ourselves on the predators menu, they could (now) smell us for miles. Just in case they didn't get the message, our women folk could scream out our location in the process of giving birth. Finally now that we were out of cover, if we couldn't be smelt or heard we could always be seen from far away. Could this theory be wrong or were we just faster runners all those years ago? Any thoughts on this folks.

[Lotus Flower]

We came out of the jungles and into the wide savanna? We learnt to walk upright, in turn freeing our hands to devlop tools. Hmm!

It's probably been said before but just in case- Does anybody agree with me that in following this rout we were putting ourselves on the predators menu, they could (now) smell us for miles. Just in case they didn't get the message, our women folk could scream out our location in the process of giving birth. Finally now that we were out of cover, if we couldn't be smelt or heard we could always be seen from far away. Could this theory be wrong or were we just faster runners all those years ago? Any thoughts on this folks.

I think that it is damn lucky we are at the top of the food chain or I reckon we would all be dead meat! Humans were able to invent and use tools, had cunning and intelligence that could outwit (a lot of the time) predators.

If we did not have weapons and could only rely on our bodies, we may have become extinct

[robbieb]

ur half right in that we didnt leave the jungle as much as the jungle left us on the westers side the jungle receded and this left us no choice but to evolve we learned to walk uprght in order to see farther distances and thus help us survive we lived in social groups for protection and more complex tools were created once our hands were free this allowed us to eventualy scare preadators away fomr kills (ud run away from ur food too if 20 ape like creatures were running at u screaming throwing rocks and holding clubs) and then more meat led to more protien that led our brains to grow and allow us to better survive in that enviourment and then once we got fire nouthing in nature stood a chance its natural for all animals to fear fire

[Purplos]

I don't quite understand why people could be smelled when walking upright and could not if they were quadropedal (sp?). Also.... women screaming during childbirth is hardly necessary.

[blueboy]

I don't quite understand why people could be smelled when walking upright and could not if they were quadropedal (sp?). Also.... women screaming during childbirth is hardly necessary.

Blueboy-- It's not the position we were in, but the position we were in. In other words, when we were in the crawling position

(yeh, right) we were in the jungle position (where thye mixture of fauna and flora would mask our scent) as opposed to the savanna, where the winds would transport it for the hungry masses (lions etc) Regarding the screaming, your right,it's hardly necessary, but if you worked in a maternity ward, like I do, you would know that the occasional yelp escapes form the mouths of some of the mothers to be.

[Raptor]

I think you're right to an extent but the effect would be so small, it would be almost insignificant. The benefits of being able to stand upright would vastly outway the disadvantages of predators being able to smell you slightly more...

[robbieb]

smell isnt as important as u would think its not our sent that would draw preadators its scarps of food or after birth and placenta left from child birth things like that that the preadators would be drawn to us from not our scent so much also walking upright gave us a very wide range of sight

[blueboy]

smell isnt as important as u would think its not our sent that would draw preadators its scarps of food or after birth and placenta left from child birth things like that that the preadators would be drawn to us from not our scent so much also walking upright gave us a very wide range of sight

smell isnt as important as u would think its not our sent that would draw preadators its scarps of food or after birth and placenta left from child birth things like that that the preadators would be drawn to us from not our scent so much also walking upright gave us a very wide range of sight

[blueboy]

Think for a moment. We developed the ability to look all around. We're uindercover (forest/jungle/cave). We see the predators feasting on their prey. We think 'bloody hell, lets stay put.' No I think if there was any developing done, it was done with the protection of the flora, until we had the nonce and the ability to think of ways of staying off the menu.

[robbieb]

to bad fossil records disagree with u on that

[Dr. Strangelove]

Think for a moment. We developed the ability to look all around. We're uindercover (forest/jungle/cave). We see the predators feasting on their prey. We think 'bloody hell, lets stay put.' No I think if there was any developing done, it was done with the protection of the flora, until we had the nonce and the ability to think of ways of staying off the menu.

...noo

We would've grabbed our spears, chased off the predators, and took their meal..

[blueboy]

...noo

We would've grabbed our spears, chased off the predators, and took their meal..

Why do that when you could stick your spear into the ape with no brain. who just happened to live down the street.You wouldn't even have to cart it home.

[cladking]

I'm unconvinced by many of the points in this thread.

There's no real evidence that we are so much smarter than the animals even now.

If you are being chased by a lion you will likely find cunning of relatively little value

whether you are a gazelle or human. Certainly there were numerous things humans

found to protect themselves that most animals were incapable of duplicating for one

reason or another.

It has been seriously suggested that part of our success is hinged on the fact that we

don't taste good. Sharks and lions are about the only animals which still attempt to

prey on humans and sharks just aren't very bright. Lions attack man only if starving

in most cases. This is bred into many species since individual animals which attack

man are almost always killed.

New research suggests our earliest ancestors probably survived primarily on the bones

of other animals' kills. Our dexterity enabled us to smash the bones for the marrow.

I also have some doubt that smell would have been effectively different on the savannah

than the forest. Under some conditions there would be an advantage and some condit-

ions a disadvantage. If we really bad to other animals then it's hard to say which is

which. Some theorists believe that all predators have a foul odor to other predators.

Those which have poor sense of smell excepted, of course.

[robbieb]

if we took away all ur clothes put in ain a group of about 10-15 of u gave u shapened sticks and rocks to throw im pretty sure a lion would stay away from u espicaly if it has a memory of the last time it came near ur group it was bombarded by rocks preadators dont risk getting hurt when easierr prey is around

[The Mule]

First....savanah grass tall....early humans short

Two - ever go hunting? Ok...I don't but the guys I know who DO hunt use....stuff....to make them smell like other animals, if you know what I mean....

Three - no WAY did we do this without weapons....

Four - There's no reason to beleive we stayed on all 4's in the jungle and suddenly became bipedal on the savanah. We could have easily walked on two feet in the junlge for a few hundred thousand years before venturing out onto the savanah.

[robbieb]

ok seee ur just making stuff up come back with fossil evidence or any evidence u are stating a theory that u came up with that haas no justification fossils show us that once man ventured into the savanh they started to develope an upright posture this is determined by the hole where the spinal column meets the skull because that determines how the head is held go down on all four and notice u have to crank ur neck all the way up to look foward now look at a chimp a chimp can look foward and yet raise his head further when on all four it all depends on where the head rests fossils show that treu bipedialism didnt happen until they lived entirely in the forest this doenst mean while living in the forest they never stood on two legs i mena gorillas do it chimps do it in fact put any ape in water waste deep and it will walk on two legs to get threw it

[Toxic Flood]

The reason mothers giving birth are loud is just pain, whether or not they are gving birth the pain would be the same. Animals have the urge to make loud noise when they feel pain because it alerts others in their tribe/pack/group etc. to come to their aid or stay clear of the danger or what have you.

We walked on two feet so we could see the predators coming and/or use spears, rocks and other tools to avoid/kill them. There are probably more reasons, these are just what my logic tells me.