Birds Hunted Ancient Man

[Mr. Anderson]

http://www.cnn.com/2006/TECH/science/01/12/humans.birds.ap/index.html

I wonder what Alfred Hitchcock would have thought of this?

I also imagine that the birds 2 million years ago might have been a bit bigger than the ones today - I remember that there was a giant monster of a bird in Africa until only just recently (centuries).

D

 

[miloblithe]

Not to mention that people would have been a bit smaller and less well armed.

 

[Lord Blackadder]

I don't think birds need to be any bigger....if you've ever seen a large eagle in person you'll know what I mean, they are pretty big animals.

All the same, predatory birds would probably have preyed primarily on smaller individuals.

The taung child is a famous and importand paleoanthropological specimen, and if true this finding will make it all the more important.

My favorite example of animal predation on hominids is the unfortunate individual whose cranium was perforated by a sabre-toothed cat.

 

[katie ta achoo]

Once, I had a bird fly AT MY HEAD.
I know I have a big head, but.. AHH! I thought I was going to die.

These hunting birds are still alive and well.
You can't run because they can fly... it's scary.

 

[joepunk]

Makes sense, as the really young are the most vulnerable to predators and Large Birds. Saw a film in Anthropology class of some primates yelling/protecting their young when a large predatory bird came onto the scene.

 

[Lord Blackadder]

Once, I had a bird fly AT MY HEAD.
I know I have a big head, but.. AHH! I thought I was going to die.

These hunting birds are still alive and well.
You can't run because they can fly... it's scary.

That reminds me of that Seinfeld episode where Elaine's ex told her she had a big head, and later in the program a bird flew into her head, seemingly confirming the insult.

 

[emw]

Berger concluded man's ancestors had to survive not just being hunted from the ground, but from the air. Such discoveries are "key to understanding why we humans today view the world the way we do," he said.

That explains why I am constantly ducking when I walk around outside.

 

[Sdashiki]

Once, I had a bird fly AT MY HEAD.
I know I have a big head, but.. AHH! I thought I was going to die.

thats a seinfeld episode.

 

[katie ta achoo]

thats a seinfeld episode.

No.. this actually happened to me.
It was a blue jay and it was swooping under a walkway for reasons unknown.

I remember I was young at the time.. probably 6 or 7, but it's still a really vivid memory. I remember that I cried for an hour and had to get sent home from school.

I still don't like birds.

 

[whooleytoo]

Once, I had a bird fly AT MY HEAD.
I know I have a big head, but.. AHH! I thought I was going to die.

A bat flew into my head once - I can't even use the "well, it was dark" excuse!

 

[emw]

A bat flew into my head once

I had a golf club fly into my head once, but I imagine a bat would be worse. Especially those aluminum ones.

 

[katie ta achoo]

I had a golf club fly into my head once, but I imagine a bat would be worse. Especially those aluminum ones.

Oh, I must look like a lunatic.. I just thought about aluminum bats (like.. the flying bat) and started cracking up.
The whole class turned to look at me..

This happens every day when I read MR.. Maybe I'm amused too easily.

 

[emw]

In the old days, when I was a kid, we got in trouble for having non-school reading materials during class. Now you're surfing the web? Must be nice.

 

[katie ta achoo]

In the old days, when I was a kid, we got in trouble for having non-school reading materials during class. Now you're surfing the web? Must be nice.

Not when birds are flying into your head and hunting your young.

I live in terror now; I know too much.

I'll never look at a bird the same way again!

 

[whooleytoo]

I had a golf club fly into my head once, but I imagine a bat would be worse. Especially those aluminum ones.

Boom boom!

No, it was messy, but it didn't hurt.. it was a fruit bat!

 

[emw]

I'll never look at a bird the same way again!

Remember that next time you have a chicken sandwich.

 

[katie ta achoo]

Remember that next time you have a chicken sandwich.

I don't eat meat.

Maybe I should tell the top chicken in the pecking order this and the anti-KT attacks will end.

I knew those birds were up to something.
Always pooping on my car.
ok, it's not MY car, but I still get to clean all the bird off my mom's camry.

 

[Mr. Anderson]

No.. this actually happened to me.
It was a blue jay and it was swooping under a walkway for reasons unknown.

You were near their nest - you probably didn't see it - but they're very protective of the eggs

It didn't have anything to do with the size of your head

D

 

[Macaddicttt]

I had a golf club fly into my head once, but I imagine a bat would be worse. Especially those aluminum ones.

I was hit twice with an aluminum bat when I younger. They weren't exactly flying, unless you count "being swung at a ball" as "flying." Yeah, people say two hits to the head explain a lot.

 

[pknz]

Did anyone else think of birds walking around with guns shooting humans? Or was it just me?

 

[2nyRiggz]

trashers are well known to go at people or anything for that matter...i love em.


Bless

 

[Chundles]

Once, I had a bird fly AT MY HEAD.
I know I have a big head, but.. AHH! I thought I was going to die.

These hunting birds are still alive and well.
You can't run because they can fly... it's scary.

You haven't met our Magpies then?

Every year around the time when the eggs are hatching, the magpies will sit near the nest and watch what's going on, then when someone walks by underneath they swoop down out of their hiding place and go at the back of your head with their beak and talons. They rarely hit as the point is to scare you off but every now and then they mis-judge. I saw a bald guy get cut from the back of his head to the front by a low flying magpie beak. It's easy to stop them swooping, you just have to spot them and make sure you watch them the whole time you pass by, they don't seem to swoop if you can see them.

It's a funny time of year, you'll see people in suits walking to work with bicycle helmets on, sometimes icecream buckets on their head, there's always some news story showing power company workmen up a pole and an irate maggie swooping in and out at them.

 

[2nyRiggz]

yup thats the trashers as well.....they hate cats.


Bless

 

[Abstract]

I knew those birds were up to something.
Always pooping on my car.

What colour is the car? Blue? White?

 

[GorillaPaws]

That reminds me of that Seinfeld episode where Elaine's ex told her she had a big head, and later in the program a bird flew into her head, seemingly confirming the insult.

The story reminded me of this:

Birds really are dangerous.