Which Animal Did Ancient Humans Fear the Most? How They Survived Predators

How did ancient humans survive predators, and which animal did they fear the most? Most people say the lion. The oldest evidence points somewhere else: two small round holes in a fossil skull from a cave in South Africa. In this animated history episode we ask how did ancient humans survive predators with no claws, no fangs and, for a very long time, no fire. We follow leopards that drag their kills into trees, the eagle marks on the Taung Child, the cave lions, cave hyenas and cave bears of Ice Age Europe, and the first traces of fire inside a cave. Where scientists still disagree, we say so in the video. The question for tonight: how did ancient humans survive predators in the dark? Subscribe to Before the Leash for one new episode every week about ancient humans and animals. CHAPTERS 00:00 A night with no fire 00:16 Two small holes in a skull 00:22 Southern Africa, 2 million years ago 00:47 A crowd of hunters 01:00 Bones that look like leftovers 01:33 Why we were easy targets 01:46 Where do you sleep? 02:01 The hunter that climbs trees 02:29 Kills hoisted into trees 02:45 A tree at the mouth of a cave 03:06 Danger from the sky: the Taung Child 03:46 Grass, water and sky 04:12 Swartkrans cave 04:22 SK 54 and the two holes 04:36 A leopard jaw that fits 05:14 Was it Dinofelis? 05:36 The danger that came at night 05:54 Ice Age Europe 06:01 The cave lion 06:37 The cave hyena 07:11 The cave bear 07:35 The deadliest pattern 08:15 Fire in the cave 08:41 Still a hypothesis 09:02 Wonderwerk Cave 09:19 So, which animal? 10:20 One more animal RESEARCH & SOURCES Brain, C.K. (1970). Nature 225:1112–1119. doi:10.1038/2251112a0 Brain, C.K. (1981). The Hunters or the Hunted? An Introduction to African Cave Taphonomy. University of Chicago Press. Ditsong National Museum of Natural History — SK 54 (Swartkrans). Martin, J.M. et al. (2024). South African Journal of Science 120(3/4). doi:10.17159/sajs.2024/16387 Berger, L.R. & Clarke, R.J. (1995). Journal of Human Evolution 29:275–299. doi:10.1006/jhev.1995.1060 Berger, L.R. (2006). American Journal of Physical Anthropology 131:166–168. doi:10.1002/ajpa.20415 Smithsonian NMNH Human Origins — Taung Child. Lee-Thorp, J. et al. (2000). Journal of Human Evolution 39:565–576. doi:10.1006/jhev.2000.0436 Brain, C.K. & Sillen, A. (1988). Nature 336:464–466. doi:10.1038/336464a0 Pickering, T.R. (2012). South African Journal of Science 108(5/6). doi:10.4102/sajs.v108i5/6.1250 Berna, F. et al. (2012). PNAS 109(20). doi:10.1073/pnas.1117620109 Balme, G.A. et al. (2017). Journal of Animal Ecology 86:634–644. doi:10.1111/1365-2656.12654 Hayward, M.W. et al. (2006). Journal of Zoology 270:298–313. doi:10.1111/j.1469-7998.2006.00139.x Zuberbühler, K. & Jenny, D. (2002). Journal of Human Evolution 43:873–886. doi:10.1006/jhev.2002.0605 Stuart, A.J. & Lister, A.M. (2011). Quaternary Science Reviews 30:2329–2340. doi:10.1016/j.quascirev.2010.04.023 Grotte Chauvet 2 Ardèche — official site. Sauqué, V. et al. (2017). Palaeontologia Electronica. doi:10.26879/622 Camarós, E. et al. (2017). Hunted or scavenged Neanderthals? International Journal of Osteoarchaeology 27:606–620. doi:10.1002/oa.2584 Zilio, L. et al. (2021). Scientific Reports 11. doi:10.1038/s41598-021-83741-9 Christiansen, P. (1999). What size were Arctodus simus and Ursus spelaeus? Annales Zoologici Fennici 36:93–102. Richards, M.P. et al. (2008). PNAS 105:600–604. doi:10.1073/pnas.0711063105 Naito, Y.I. et al. (2020). Scientific Reports 10:6612. doi:10.1038/s41598-020-62990-0 Hart, D. & Sussman, R.W. (2005). Man the Hunted: Primates, Predators, and Human Evolution. Isbell, L.A. (2006). Journal of Human Evolution 51:1–35. doi:10.1016/j.jhevol.2005.12.012 LoBue, V. & DeLoache, J.S. (2010). Developmental Science 13:221–228. doi:10.1111/j.1467-7687.2009.00872.x Illustrations are AI-assisted, not real photos or footage. Narration is AI-generated. Background music was created with Suno (licensed plan). Some points are still debated by scientists, as noted in the video. Previous episodes: Did Ancient Humans Have Pets?    • Did Ancient Humans Have Pets? The 14,000-Y...   How Did Ancient Humans Turn Wolves Into Dogs?    • How Did Ancient Humans Turn Wolves Into Dogs?   Topics: how did ancient humans survive predators, ice age predators, early humans vs predators, prehistoric humans. More on how did ancient humans survive predators in every episode of this channel. #EarlyHumans #PrehistoricPredators #CaveLion