This is why every uniquely human cognitive trait links to hunting: Strategic planning: Essential for ambush hunting. Theory of mind: Predicting animal and human behavior. Complex language: Coordinating multi-step operations. Tool innovation: Better weapons increase success.Social bonding: Trust your hunting partners with your life. --Sama Hoole
Solitary humans don't hunt mammoths. Groups hunt mammoths.
— Sama Hoole (@SamaHoole) February 7, 2026
This cooperation shaped us. Made us human.
The archaeological evidence shows systematic, planned megafauna hunting. Not opportunistic scavenging.
Multiple spear impact points on bones. Evidence of coordinated strikes.… pic.twitter.com/KXoQwpnggK
Solitary humans don't hunt mammoths. Groups hunt mammoths. This cooperation shaped us. Made us human. The archaeological evidence shows systematic, planned megafauna hunting. Not opportunistic scavenging. Multiple spear impact points on bones. Evidence of coordinated strikes. Kill sites showing ambush tactics. You can't ambush a mammoth alone. You need: - Scouts to track movements - Planners to choose kill location - Drivers to direct the herd - Strikers to make the kill - Processors to butcher efficiently This requires language. Strategy. Trust. Social bonds. It requires every cognitive advantage that makes us human. And it only makes sense if the payoff is enormous. Which it was. One mammoth: 2,000,000 calories. Feed twenty five people for a whole month. The ROI justified the cooperation. The cooperation justified developing language. The language enabled better cooperation. Feedback loop for 2.5 million years. Megafauna hunting didn't just feed us. It made us intelligent. We needed big brains to coordinate complex hunts. The hunts provided fat to support big brains. The bigger brains enabled better hunts. This is why every uniquely human cognitive trait links to hunting: Strategic planning: Essential for ambush hunting. Theory of mind: Predicting animal and human behavior. Complex language: Coordinating multi-step operations. Tool innovation: Better weapons increase success. Social bonding: Trust your hunting partners with your life. All of it traces back to hunting fat-rich megafauna cooperatively. We became human by becoming hunters. We became hunters by targeting the fattest prey. The evidence is everywhere. The cognitive traits. The social structures. The linguistic capacity. All optimized for one goal: Hunt megafauna. Access fat. Feed brains. This is human exceptionalism. Not that we're special. That we specialized. We specialized in hunting the hardest targets for the highest returns. And it worked. For 2.5 million years. Until we eliminated the targets.
