Re:Fat, Not Meat, May Have Led to Bigger Hominin Brains
by tzs on Monday April 08, 2019 @01:50AM
(#19602468)
Note that the part you quote talks abut the latecomers to a kill going for the bones. That suggests that maybe hyenas don't like the bones, but will eat them if they aren't able to get the better parts of the kill.
Another part of that same article, talking about a rare hyena that made it to old age, mentions "She still had perfect teeth, too, since her rank assured her the best cuts of meat, whereas the teeth of lower-ranking animals get chipped and worn from crunching bones", which fits in with the bones not being something that they actually want.
So maybe if an animal is killed by a hyena pack that is small enough for everyone to get a good chunk of meat, they leave the less desired bones behind?
Re:Fat, Not Meat, May Have Led to Bigger Hominin Brains
by murukesh_s on Monday April 08, 2019 @12:48AM
(#19602216)
May be hyenas also adapter over million year period to bust open bones. But i wonder why they did not develop a brain like ours!
Re:Fat, Not Meat, May Have Led to Bigger Hominin Brains
by Phenomenit on Monday April 08, 2019 @02:37AM
(#19602685)
Brains are only developed if there is an advantage and I guess a brain without fingers, our eyes etc isn't maybe as useful as using the fat for energy.
Re:Fat, Not Meat, May Have Led to Bigger Hominin Brains
by onetimemanytime on Monday April 08, 2019 @05:17AM
(#19603524)
Yp, brain uses tremendous amount of energy so there's a cost. Use too much of it to build the brain and you starve...use too little and same result since you're outsmarted. Rinse repeat until it's perfected.
Re:Fat, Not Meat, May Have Led to Bigger Hominin Brains
by bluedino on Monday April 08, 2019 @08:22AM
(#19604512)
Heyenas have 2 extra legs to waste energy on. Not much left in the budget for a big brain.
Re:Fat, Not Meat, May Have Led to Bigger Hominin Brains
by code_duck on Friday April 12, 2019 @07:42PM
(#19650027)
Rats have a similar brain-to-body mass as humans. Cats are fairly intelligent, are they not?
Re:Fat, Not Meat, May Have Led to Bigger Hominin Brains
by coldtea on Monday April 08, 2019 @02:00AM
(#19602511)
Evolution doesn't converge for all species to some single point. It was enough that hyenas got adapted to their environment, and their mutations didn't make much difference towards larger brains.
One of our ancestors had the brilliant idea to use a rock to bust open the bones.
Wait - I thought hyenas were specifically bone-busting / eating:
"Spotted hyenas are some of Africa's most proficient predators. A frenzied scrum of them can dismantle and devour a 400-pound zebra in 25 minutes. An adult spotted hyena can tear off and swallow 30 or 40 pounds of meat per feeding. Latecomers to a kill use their massive jaw muscles and molars to pulverize the bones for minerals and fatty marrow. Hair and hooves get regurgitated later. "The only thing left is a patch of blood on the ground," says Holekamp." [1]
1 - https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/whos-laughing-...