Predation of Humans by Other Animals

19 Nov 2022 15:16

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Being eaten by other animals appears to have been a major risk for humans (and other hominids) over most of our evolutionary history. What did this do to us?

It is tempting to somehow connect our interest in horror movies and novels with this; can this actually be done in a defensible way? What would such an argument look like?

See also: Evolutionary Psychology; Human Evolution and Paleoanthropology

Recommended:
• Barbara Ehrenreich, Blood Rites
• Jay A. Smith, Monsters of the Gevaudan: The Making of a Beast

To read:
• Peter Boomgaard, Frontiers of Fear: Tigers and People in the Malay World, 1600--1950
• Donna L. Hart and Robert W. Sussman, Man the Hunted: Primates, Predators, and Human Evolution
• Hans Kruuk, Hunter and Hunted: Relationships Between Carnivores and People
• David Quamen, Monsters of God