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>  but we see the =93myth of man the mighty hunter=94 perpetuated
> again. To begin with we see our intrepid Neanderthals taking on a giant
> Irish deer, and paying the ultimate price.  Our competitors the wolves
> know
> that attacking a moose is not worth the risk until it is are old, sick
> or
> injured- why wouldn=92t Neanderthals know this too?  Later we see them
> by th=
> e
> shearest luck disabling a mammoth.
>   Modern African hunters know that the
> most dangerous animals to approach are the large herbivores
> =96elephant,
> hippo, rhino, buffalo-


But Africans did hunt elephants with only hand weapons, axes and
spears, until the colonial governments put a stop to it. Neanderthals
were built to take terrible punishment, far stronger and tougher than
us gracile Sapiens. If we can do it, certainly they could. I read of
one site where apparently generations preyed mainly on young woolly
rhinos! I guess mama rhino got mad but couldn't do much about it.

Bone samples suggest that neanderthals were primary, top level
carnivores, eating a diet similar to wolves and lions. Sapiens bone
samples from Europe show much the same. I saw a TV documentary on lions
last week. The lions used rather sophisticated tactics to trap a herd
of zebras. One group of lions surrounds the herd and chases them
towards a second group lying in ambush. I can't imagine our big brained
ancestors were any less adept.

> Our hunters are desperately seeking food to sustain a heavily pregnant
> female who is about to give birth. I find it unbelievable that a female
> would give birth at the start of a season of increasing scarcity.
> Other
> animals time their delivery to Spring

Some do and some don't. Owls for example hatch chicks in the winter.
Polar bears too. Humans, even uncivilized ones, bear in all seasons. No
way to know if Neanderthals did the same.

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