Re: Why Large Gap Between Species...?
wvanhou237@aol.com
9 Dec 1996 15:14:57 GMT
In article <schmal-0512960003380001@ppp-14177.firstnethou.com>,
schmal@firstnethou.com (T&B Schmal) writes:
>> --
>Good question. Lions, cheetahs, leopards, wolves - all survive in Africa
>and they *don't* dedicate themselves to wiping each other out.
>The differences between these three or four carnivores are probably
>similar in magnitude to the differences between the three or four species
>of bipeds living a few million years ago. Yet only one of the biped
>species survived.
An examination of the hunting habits of the three species of cats
might
give us a fair idea. Though I'm sure a lion wouldn't pass up much, the
habit of
group hunting gives them the ability to gang up on the larger herbivores
like
zebra and wildebeest. Even an occasional old or crippled cape buffalo.
Leopards
tend to go for the smaller slower species and are lone hunters. They are
also
more scavangers than the other cats. The cheetah lives almost exclusively
on Thompsons Gazelle. The cheetah also seems to be having some kind of
genetic difficulty that is giving them population problems.
Since I haven't heard much about the various hominids ate I wouldn't
even
be able to hazard a guess as to whether the competed with each other.
Except
that they may have been separated by time.
W F VAN HOUTEN
Older. But wiser ?
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