Eat 'Em and Smile

Man, it's great being at the top of the food chain. That one-eyed hobo over there? The only predator he has to fear is a two-eyed hobo. The point is, those two hobos are sitting on the pointy part of the eat-it-up pyramid. But how did humans get to the apex? We have no claws, no fangs, and one of us is missing an eye (that'd be the first hobo). In their book Man the Hunted: Predators, Primates and Human Evolution, anthropologists Dr. Donna L. Hart and Dr. Robert Sussman theorize that because our distant ancestors were at the bottom of the food chain, humans (cover your eyes, intelligent designers) evolved the necessary survival adaptations to claw our way to the top. Being defenseless lunchmeat for various sabre-toothed mammals forced us to learn to think and act as a group, and to develop the full-auto shotgun (that happened later). Dr. Hart discusses this idea from 7:30 to 9 p.m. in the Saint Louis Zoo's Living World Center (314-768-5466 or www.stlzoo.org). Admission is free; a meal is not provided, but you're smart. You'll bag something on the way.
Wed., March 15