As of yesterday the fall semester came to an end, although I still have a bit of work set out before me. Aside from the final exams, I have on term paper due tomorrow for my African Prehistory seminar involving a topic of my choice, and my subject involves what the Snow Leopard (Panthera uncia) pictured above is doing: eating meat. Many of the books I read didn't discuss carnivory in our ancestors until it became more prevalent in Homo erectus, but obviously the behaviors had to start somewhere, and the more I thought about it the more the capture and consumption of small animal prey in the forest seemed to be important, at least as a precursor to later behaviors. I've got to finish it up tonight, but I may very well turn it into a blog post if anyone's interested. I could be wrong about a number of ideas I bring up in the paper, but it is food for thought if nothing else.
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Hmm, African pre-history. I'd be interested in reading a general overview of recent human pre-history and ancient history, say the last 50, 000-100, 000 years or so. When exactly did we (or some of us) leave Africa? I know some say there was more than one wave. How long ago did different groups become sufficiently isolated (as in minimal, but non-zero genetic drift) that we started getting distinct populations that were mostly recognizable by arbitrary but noticeable physical differences (i.e., African, Asian, European populations, on the main continents).
I think this was before the first civilization in Africa, Mesopotamia, but how much before? What was the rest of the world doing at the time? After Mesopotamia was Egypt, Greece, China. But which was first? What kind of contact did they have? Especially China. What about the pre-Germanic peoples? They were basically nomads and barbarians for a long time, but how long ago were they separated from other groups? When did they start pulling themselves together? Did they do it independently of Roman influences or not? How many distinct human populations were there at any given time, and how have they separated and merged through history, creating new cultures and civilizations along the way? Etc., etc., etc.
I'm interested in the big questions of history, the first civilizations, the big picture of cultural development, over thousands of years, the first glimmerings. You seem like the person to ask: can you recommend a book (or three) that covers some or most of this sort of stuff?
I would like to see a post on prehistoric carnivory if you have the time. A recipe for lime chicken and shrimp would be welcome too. I suppose I could look one up, but you promised "easy". I'm a sucker for easy food. I wouldn't be the one in the canopy plucking insects off the bark, I'd be the one on the forest floor waiting for you to drop yours. Good luck with the finals and the paper. rb
We have two snow leopards at our zoo (they are relatively recent arrivals). They are incredibly cute and active, but I find it odd that they have to be separated. We were able to watch them get fed one time, and they were very funny the whole time the keeper was approaching their enclosure.