Dave Hone: preference

Transcript context

…So there’s pack hunting, but there’s also sociality, which is such an interesting idea. It’s, how did they live? And this is something you look at that paleontology doesn’t often touch, is like, the lives. Yeah, because, you know, animals are doing complicated things. So, you know, in the case of lions, a large part of this is down to territoriality in that the males ultimately are defending the territory, and that’s effectively protecting the females. But of course, what they’re mostly protecting them from is other males. So there’s a ludicrous bit of self-interest. But that’s effectively how it’s operating as a system. But it could just be predatory type. Cheetahs are my go-to example for this. So cheetahs are the weird ones compared to the other cats because females are solitary, but males are social. So brothers will… When, when, you know, if the female has five or six cubs, the brothers will stay together in a group, and then the girls will go off on their own. And if you’re the only brother or the only survivor, you will usually hook up with a gang of other males. So cheetahs are pack hunters if you’re male, and a solitary hunter if you’re female. So it’s not about territory defense or occupation for them. It’s about prey type. Is it possible to know the sex of a T-Rex or any of the other dinosaurs? Like, what can paleontology show us?…

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