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Approximately 2,000,000 BC- 1,000,000+ BC: Prototypical humans are producing chopping tools and using flaking techniques for other tool-making chores; they may also be thinking symbolically; the terrifying giant flightless predatory bird Titanus (Phorusrhacidae) and its relatives may be going extinct in the AmericasTools and other implements are being made from stone, bone, antler, and wood.
| -- page 551, World History, The World Almanac and Book of Facts 1996, World Almanac Books |
Abstract human thought and behavior may have been emerging as early as 1.4 million BC.
|
-- Early human marks are 'symbols' ["http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/3512470.stm"] By Paul Rincon; 16 March, 2004; news.bbc.co.uk |
Titanus walleri is roaming Florida; in the past it and its kin terrorized South America (29 to 24 million BC and later). Around 4 to 3 million BC the two American continents were connected by the emergence of the Isthmus of Panama, and the predator expanded into the north, actually advancing against much more modern design large predators like mammalian big cats and others, which killed off virtually all Titanus' peers in South America. Titanus is up to six feet tall and 400 pounds, and can likely run at horse galloping speeds. Note that the 20th century African ostrich will grow up to eight feet tall and achieve speeds up to 50 miles per hour, and as late as around 1800 AD there will be 15 feet tall flightless birds in New Zealand (the Moa).
| -- Terror, Take Two By Carl Zimmer, Discover Magazine, found on or about 9-1-99 |
Titanus may be nearly as stealthy when hunting as 20th century big cats like lions and tigers.
Titanus is something close to a reincarnated velociraptor from the bygone dinosaur ages-- only with feathers and a stubbier tail. As such, it may hunt in packs.
| -- Decline of the Terror Birds ["http://www.terrorvogel.de/decline_.html"], Carl Dennis Buell - Titanus ["http://www.infomagic.com/~olduvai/Pages/Titanus.html"], Titanis ["http://www.terrorvogel.de/titanis_.html"], and Coolrox Limited: The Hunt for Titanus ["http://coolrox.com/titanus.htm"] |
Diatryma, another large flightless bird that is possibly a carnivore (seven feet all) is also perhaps facing extinction at this time. In the past (since 38 million BC) they may have dominated western Europe and North America.
|
-- Extinct Birds ["http://www.zoomdinosaurs.com/subjects/birds/Earlybirds.shtml"]
Other possibly relevant sites include: Pleistocene Extinctions ["http://www.uiowa.edu/~anthro/webcourse/naarch/extinct.html"], Biodiversity and Conservation (book) ["http://darwin.bio.uci.edu/~sustain/bio65/Titlpage.htm#Table%20of%20contents"], EXTINCTION AND DEPLETION FROM OVER-EXPLOITATION ["http://darwin.bio.uci.edu/~sustain/bio65/lec03/b65lec03.htm"] , History of Life (book) ["http://www-geology.ucdavis.edu/~GEL3/3webpages.html"], JOURNAL OF VERTEBRATE PALEONTOLOGY 15(4), Decem ["http://www.museum.state.il.us/svp/jvp/15_4_jvp.html"], NWF - International Wildlife Magazine - Birds ["http://backstage.nwf.org/nwf/intlwild/claprail.html"], and UF SCIENTIST'S DISCOVERY CHALLENGES ASSUMPTIONS ABOUT KILLER BIRD ["http://www.napa.ufl.edu/oldnews/bigbird.htm"] by Cathy Keen, University of Florida News, June 5, 1996 |
