Pleistocene boundary, and is found at a number of fossil localities there. 

 They speculate that its presence may have facilitated meat scavenging by 

 early humans wherever they occurred together, as the saber tooth would 

 have brought down large prey and then left a good deal of meat uneaten, 

 due to its inability to chew bones. Thus of all the dangerous predators, this 

 one must have been a mixed blessing to the early hominids. 



Family Hyaenidae 



Chasmoporthetes nitidula (Ewer, 1955). The hunting hyena 

 An interesting animal, known from Swartkrans Member 1, where it was 

 previously put into the genus Euryboas. It combined hyenid characteristics 

 in its skull and dentition with very long, slender legs, reminiscent of the 

 cheetah. Indications are that it was a fast, cursorial hunter and must have 

 posed a considerable danger to hominids moving about in open country. 



Hyaena brunnea Thunberg, 1820. The brown hyena 



Fossil representatives of the extant brown hyena are known among the 

 fauna from Swartkrans Member 1. These hyenas both scavenge and hunt 

 and could have been dangerous to hominids, particularly juveniles that may 

 have strayed from the protection of the group. 



Crocuta crocuta (Erxleben, 1777). The spotted hyena 

 Fossils that have been placed in various taxa in the past, but which can 

 probably be attributed to the living spotted hyena taxon, are known from 

 various southern African cave sites. Like the brown hyenas, these were both 

 scavengers and hunters and would certainly have posed a threat to unpro- 

 tected hominids at night. 



Family Canidae 



Lycaon atrox Broom, 1948. The hunting dog 



Known from Swartkrans Member 2 and Kromdraai A, this form appears to 

 have been an ancestor of the contemporary Hunting Dog, L. pictus, familiar 

 today as highly effective pack-hunting predators of great speed and endur- 

 ance. For hominids moving about in open grasslands, these could have been 

 an ever-present threat. 



Apart from the mammalian predators listed here, and doubtless 

 many others not mentioned, further dangers would have been posed 

 by crocodiles lying in wait whenever a hominid band went down to 

 a river to drink. 



There can be no doubt that hominids would have been constantly 

 vulnerable to predation in these habitats, as baboons still are today, 

 and this would have been particularly true during the hours of dark- 

 ness. In fact, one can be sure that the availability of secure sleeping 

 sites would have been a prerequisite for the occupation of any area. 



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