giant hyenas

alsih2o

First Post
http://www.asu.edu/asunews/research/Turner-bones_111202.html

has some groovy details about giant hyenas (no, they aren't statted out :) )....

"Prehistoric hyenas are generally considered to be the most dangerous non-human animal in the late Pleistocene period. About the size of contemporary wolves, ancient hyenas may have hunted in packs as large as 40 to 50 animals, and as the ultimate scavenger, may easily have taken over a big game kill from human hunters.

“In addition to climate-related restrictions to human occupation of Northern Siberia, we have wondered whether the presence of hyena packs, and probably other large carnivores, played a significant role in limiting human northward expansion into the western Bering Straits region until the domestication of dogs that might have aided in the defense of marauding hyena packs,” said Turner.
A dog skull that dates back 14,000 years found in the Siberian Altai Mountains called Razboinichiya Cave supports this theory.

The relationship between ancient human and beast is a cornerstone to solving this puzzle.
“The Russian literature has not paid much attention to the damage that animals can do to bone,” Turner said. “Given the large amount of bone that has been recovered [and believed to be associated with ancient hyenas] from the severity of destructiveness, even to very large herbivores, we are beginning to think more critically about ancient man-hyena relationships,” he said."

pretty cool stuff, anybody have a decent game mechanic for broken bones?
 

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and GIANT crocs!


"Scientists have unearthed the remains of an ancient crocodile that was as long as a city bus and as heavy as a small whale.

The giant creature, which lived 110 million years ago, during the Middle Cretaceous, grew as long as 40 feet (12 meters) and weighed as much as eight metric tons (17,500 pounds).

Its jaws alone were nearly six feet (1.8 meters) long and its more than 100 teeth so powerful that the colossal creature probably consumed small dinosaurs as well as fish, the researchers say."

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2001/10/1025_supercroc.html
 

[totally OT] clay! what did you do to which admin? i've seen that line change four or five times in the last week! [/totally OT]
 

Mr Fidgit said:
[totally OT] clay! what did you do to which admin? i've seen that line change four or five times in the last week! [/totally OT]

this particular feud started 6 generations ago in a hilly area north of wherever you are.

my great-grandpappys siter was to marry p-kittys great grandpappys brother when a bad deal went down between some great-great-cousins on a sour pig.

things have been bad ever since, but there haven't been any deaths since the cross-creek excursion of '52, when the feds were called in.

mostly now our kin trade insults at local bean dinners, or some times there full blown "did not-did too" arguments. for a brief time in the 70's disputes were settled locally thru the drawing of lots and the annual air hockey tournament.

sometimes i wonder if it is all really still worth it. but generation after generation the piratecats are just a grudge holding lot. :(
 
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