How Did Ancient Humans Survive the World's Deadliest Predators?

The Predatory Threat to Early Humans00:00

You're walking through tall grass 100,000 years ago. The sun is setting. You hear something move behind you. You turn around and see two yellow eyes reflecting the last bit of daylight. A cave lion twice the size of any lion alive today. 700 lb of muscle, claws, and teeth. And it's looking directly at you. You have no gun, no knife, not even a sharp stick. Your teeth are flat. Your nails are useless. You can't outrun it. You can't outclimb it. You can't fight it. So, how are you still here? How did your ancestors survive when everything on Earth was built to kill them?

Evidence of Early Humans as Prey00:31

In 1924, Raymond Dart discovered a skull in South Africa that changed everything. It belonged to a child, an early human ancestor about 3 years old. And punctured through the eye sockets were two holes perfectly spaced to match the canine teeth of a leopard. This child was prey, not a tragic accident, prey. For millions of years, humans weren't hunters. We were hunted. And the predators we faced weren't just dangerous. They were apex killers that had spent millions of years evolving to hunt large mammals.

Major Predators That Hunted Early Humans01:00

Starting with the saber-toothed cat, Smilodon fatalis, 11in canines, 600 lb, built like a tank with a bite designed to puncture the throats of bison and camels. It didn't chase, it ambushed. It waited in tall grass or near water sources and exploded out at 30 mph. One bite to the neck and you were done. And it wasn't alone. The short-faced bear Arctodus simus, the largest mammalian land predator in North America, 12 feet tall when standing, 2,000 pounds, long legs built for endurance running. Most bears today are opportunistic. They'll eat berries, fish, whatever. The short-faced bear was a hyper carnivore. It ate meat, only meat, and it could run 40 mph. If it saw you, you were already dead. Then there were the cave hyenas. Crocuta crocuta spelaea, larger and stronger than modern hyenas with a bite force of 1,100 lb per square inch. For context, your bite is about 162 pounds per square inch. A cave hyena could crush bones to get at the marrow inside. They hunted in packs of 20 or more, coordinated, relentless, and they hunted at night when early humans could barely see. Dire wolves ran in packs of 30. Cave lions were 25% larger than African lions and hunted in groups. Giant cheetahs, scimitar cats, terror birds in South America that stood 10 feet tall with beaks that could shatter skulls. Everywhere humans went, something was trying to eat us.