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It’s surprising that humans were able to make it to the top of of the food chain when you consider the predators that used to roam the world. Humans are quite frail in comparison to alpha predators that are equipped with natural defenses like sharp horns or powerful claws.
Turns out, one creature was aware of the weaknesses of humans and evolved specifically to take advantage of that. Humans weren’t always at the top of the food chain as evidence exists showing that we were once the preferred prey of a species of big cats.
A genus of sabre-toothed cats, Dinofelis, were a major threat to our ancestors. These large felines had strong, dagger-like teeth that were used to hunt humans, particularly to puncture human skulls.
Dinofelis were widespread in Europe, Asia, Africa and North America at least 5 million to about 1.2 million years ago. Scientist Bruce Chatwin has speculated that it was because of Dinofelis that humans began inventing spears to defend themselves.
There’s a belief that human babies have an instinctive fear of big cats because of the past threat of Dinofelis on our species.
While we still share the earth with some dangerous predators, today our major ones are much different in size.
Insects like mosquitos who can carry diseases and the dangers of bacteria have become our modern ‘predators’.
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