Early Humans Used This Old Trick to Avoid Predators

Early humans were small, slow, and hunted by leopards, lions, and eagles. They stayed alive with a shared night watch, and a 2017 study of the Hadza people in Tanzania shows how it works. In this video, you'll learn the five defenses early humans used to avoid predators: staggered sleep, safe sleeping places, group alarm calls, fire, and throwing weapons. You'll also get practical steps to use the same ideas on your next camping trip. What you'll hear about: The Taung child and the eagle that likely killed it The Swartkrans skull and the leopard teeth that matched its holes The Hadza study that found only eighteen minutes of group sleep in twenty nights Vervet monkey alarm calls Fire at Wonderwerk Cave and the Tsavo lions The Schöningen spears and the early human throwing arm Camping and hiking steps you can use this week Subscribe for more stories about how our ancestors survived, and tell us in the comments which defense surprised you the most. SOURCES Samson, Crittenden, Mabulla, Mabulla and Nunn (2017). Chronotype variation drives night-time sentinel-like behaviour in hunter-gatherers. Proceedings of the Royal Society B. Berger and Clarke (1995). Eagle involvement in accumulation of the Taung child fauna. Journal of Human Evolution. Brain (1981). The Hunters or the Hunted? University of Chicago Press. Seyfarth, Cheney and Marler (1980). Monkey responses to three different alarm calls. Science. Berna and colleagues (2012). Microstratigraphic evidence of in situ fire in the Acheulean strata of Wonderwerk Cave. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Roach and colleagues (2013). Elastic energy storage in the shoulder and the evolution of high-speed throwing in Homo. Nature. Kappelman and colleagues (2016). Perimortem fractures in Lucy suggest mortality from fall out of tall tree. Nature. Lordkipanidze and colleagues (2005). The earliest toothless hominin skull. Nature. Patterson (1907). The Man-Eaters of Tsavo.