Elephants. We tend to talk about dinosaurs a lot more frequently, maybe because they’re extinct and we can imagine them without fear since they are gone, with the exceptions of the birds and reptiles left behind.
It’s captivating to think, though, that as humans migrated from what is now the African continent they might have followed some elephants around.
If I were a human leader at the time, responsible for a group of other humans – even the annoying ones – I’d probably stay not far from elephants.
By the time we figured out fire, elephant dung could have been useful – not to mention all the broken branches and trees around them which could easily become sharp, pointy spears. I imagine a few tribes might have gotten hungry enough to try an elephant herd and it’s not hard to imagine that not going too well.
We tend to think we were pretty awesome at hunting, but I’d also think that since I’m typing this my ancestors had a disposition which allowed for survival. Being friendly with the elephants could certainly come in handy for the predators that were running around back then that might mistake a human for a tasty treat.
I’m not sure, but I’d say that the Asian elephants were African elephants that decided to head to Asia, for whatever reason. Maybe humans worked with them in some ways, or maybe we just decided following the elephants was a good idea.
A fun idea to play with in odd moments. How did that work, if it did?