FreeLists / tn-bird / [TN-Bird] Early humans hunted by eagles

["David Aborn" <David-Aborn@xxxxxxx>]

A story was released today indicates early humans were not only hunted =
by
prehistoric leopard, lions, and other felines, but by eagles as well. =
Lee
Berger, a paleo-anthropologist at Johannesburg's University of
Witwatersrand, presented his conclusions about a mystery that has been
debated since the remains of the possible human ancestor known as the =
Taung
child were discovered in 1924. The Taung child's discovery led to the =
search
for human origins in Africa, instead of in Asia or Europe as once =
theorized.
Researchers regard the fossil of the ape-man, or australopethicus =
africanus,
as evidence of the "missing link" in human evolution.

Researchers had speculated the Taung child was killed by a prehistoric
feline. But 10 years ago, Berger and fellow researcher Ron Clarke =
submitted
the theory the hunter was a large predatory bird, based on the fact most =
of
the other fossils found at the same site were small monkeys that showed
signs of having been killed by a predatory bird. Five months ago, Berger
read an Ohio State University study of the hunting abilities of modern
eagles in West Africa believed similar to predatory birds of the Taung
child's era.

The Ohio State study determined that eagles would swoop down, pierce =
monkey
skulls with their back talons. Examination of thousands of monkey =
remains
produced a pattern of damage done by birds, including holes and ragged =
cuts
in the shallow bones behind the eye sockets.

Berger went back to the Taung skull, and found traces of the ragged cuts
behind the eye sockets. He said none of the researchers who had for =
decades
been debating how the child died had noticed the eye socket damage =
before.

Berger concluded man's ancestors had to survive not just being hunted =
from
the ground, but from the air. Such discoveries "give us real insight =
into
the past lives of these human ancestors, the world they lived in and the
things they feared" he said.

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